


Breathless

by KandiSheek



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Aliens Made Them Do It, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Denial of Feelings, Desperation, Empath, Falling In Love, Ghost Handjobs, Hand Jobs, Idiots in Love, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, Magic, Marvel Norse Lore, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, No Refractory Period, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Orgasm Denial, Porn, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Rough Sex, Sexual Tension, Super Soldier Serum, Telepathic Bond, Telepathic Sex, Telepathy, because that needs to be a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-08-14 18:39:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16498097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KandiSheek/pseuds/KandiSheek
Summary: How do you even start a conversation like that? Hey, sorry, but last night you sort of jerked me off through our bond and now I know the serum makes you shoot off in like two seconds, oops.Wherein Tony can feel everything Steve feels and it makes things very awkward.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Heya! So I got this idea in my head, what if the serum not only meant Steve had a nonexistent refractory period but he also liked jerking himself off harder and faster than a normal human could handle? And THEN what if you throw a mental bond into that mix and Tony is the poor soul that gets to have his dick tortured when Steve goes to town on himself like that?
> 
> So yeah, that's basically what this is. And because Steve and Tony are both idiots who don't talk about things of course the situation escalates. Whoda thunk?
> 
> I'm not sure how often I'll update this, but I plan on finishing all six chapters within the month, so I'd be honored to have you along for the ride :) Thanks for reading!

Tony woke up in the middle of the night. He blinked at his dark surroundings, more surprised by the fact that he'd actually fallen asleep than by his unexpected awakening. His bleary eyes landed on the silhouette of a screwdriver clutched in his right hand and he hummed. Right. Suit. Repairs. Fucking space octopus.

Tony stretched his sore muscles with a groan and raised a hand to rub out a crick in his neck. Man, what he wouldn't give for a cup of –

_Woah._

He startled, eyes flicking down to his crotch. What the hell–

There was nothing there. No stray machinery poking him, none of Dummy's misplaced fondling. Tony shook his head. Weird. He could've sworn he felt –

Tony's hands slammed down on the table, a gasp punching out of his lungs. Fuck, what was– A hand definitely, felt like a hand on him, but–

He gritted his teeth when a wave of pleasure rushed through him so fast it almost hurt. His hands scrabbled along the table top, trying to get a grip. Fuck, his dick was rock hard, how – Oh _God._

Tony couldn't suppress a strangled shout when he suddenly came in his pants, no warning whatsoever. He twitched through the aftershocks, trying to catch his breath and stared at his crotch in utter disbelief. What the fuck _was_ that?

With shaking hands Tony wrestled his pants down and looked at his now flaccid penis, breathing out a sigh of relief when everything looked normal, no alien goop or anything.

“Sir?” Tony jumped at JARVIS' voice and tucked himself back into his pants. “Your heart rate seems to have spiked rather suddenly, are you alright?”

“Fine,” he panted, running a shaky hand through his hair. His head was still reeling from his unexpected orgasm. Fuck, he hadn't come that fast since– _ever_ , probably. “I'm–”

He almost bit off his tongue when his whole body jolted at the sudden pressure on his sensitive dick. Tony hissed out a breath, his eyes widening when his cock twitched painfully in an attempt to get hard again, not even a full minute after –

Tony whimpered when that phantom hand returned, brutally jacking his dick to the point of pain. He sucked in sharp breaths, pressing his hand over his crotch to somehow stop it, but there was nothing there, the sensation was all inside his head. Fuck, it _hurt!_

“Sir?”

Tony gripped his thigh so hard he could feel bruises forming, panting faster and faster as the hand sped up. He flailed his arms around spastically, trying to ward off an invisible attacker, but there was nothing there, nothing tangible –

“JARVIS,” he groaned. “What's – Is there –“

“I can't detect any heat signatures other than you, Sir.” Tony could just make out the AI's distinct note of distress over his own strangled shout. Fuck, it hurt so much, how was that even –

Tony choked on his next breath when the phantom grip tightened, tears welling up in his eyes. He tried to suck in more air, but his chest felt so tight that he couldn't – Fuck, he couldn't breathe –

“JARVIS,” he garbled out, voice barely more than a choked whisper and –

Sweet, sweet relief. Tony sucked in a huge breath when the hand suddenly paused before the pressure eased off entirely and his whole body slumped like a puppet getting its strings cut. His chest heaved like he'd been drowning, throat burning with every sharp inhale. Fuck. Tony reached down with shaking hands to pull his sweatpants away from his sweaty legs just enough to see his cock, angry red, but not chaffed or bruised like he'd feared. He heaved a sigh of relief as he let his head fall back against the floor. So someone was really fucking with his brain. No pun intended.

His head snapped up when the door to the workshop suddenly slammed open. Tony grimaced, his hands dropping back to his sides.

“Tony?” He recognized the footsteps even before Steve skidded around the workbench Tony had fallen under. Huh. When had that happened?

“What's wrong?” Steve demanded rather than asked, checking him over with military efficiency. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Tony ground out, still out of breath as he batted Steve's hands away. “What are you doing here?”

“JARVIS told me you were suffocating,” Steve said, his brow furrowed. “It's four in the morning, what could you possibly –” He trailed off after a look at Tony's face.

“What?” Tony grumbled, lifting a hand to his face as he struggled to sit up. “Something on my –“ His mouth snapped shut when he felt wetness on his cheeks. Shit.

“Tony –“

“Well, as you can see I'm still alive,” he said brusquely, turning away from Steve as he wiped off the tears even though there was no point now. Steve had already seen them. Shit. “Don't know why JARVIS felt the need to alert you, _without my permission_ by the way, don't think I'll let that slide, J. The City College is about to get very, very lucky.” Tony grimaced as he wiped his hands on his shirt. “But yeah, I'm decidedly not dying, so. Go back to sleep or whatever.”

Now slightly more presentable Tony turned back towards Steve, a bored mask plastered over his face. Steve just kept staring right at him and instead of the contempt or the smothering pity Tony had been expecting his eyes were filled with... sympathy. Great.

“You should drink something before you go to bed.”

“Planning to,” Tony drawled with an unsubtle nod at the whiskey on his work bench.

Steve frowned disapprovingly. “Water, Tony. You're not running on machine oil yet, are you?”

“Hardy har.” Tony waved him off. “Hydration and sleep, got it. Anything else?” One look at Steve's way too earnest I'm-about-to-say-something-profound face and Tony backtracked quickly. “Yeah, nope, nothing else, thanks. Got the orders loud and clear, it's all good.”

Steve looked frustrated for a split second before his features smoothed out. “Alright,” he conceded, again in that earnest voice that spelled trouble for Tony's emotional integrity, and stood to leave. “But, you know, if you ever want to talk I'm here to listen.”

Tony nodded as his eyes followed Steve all the way to the door. “Sure. I'll refer you to my assistant for an appointment. Friday sound okay?”

Steve sighed before he turned back around with a small smile. “Get some sleep, Tony.”

Tony hummed absently, staring after him until he was out of sight. Huh. That went better than expected.

“If I may, Sir?” JARVIS piped up suddenly, shaking him out of his stupor. “There is no conclusive data to explain the sudden increase in your breathing and heart rate earlier. I suggest a more thorough examination of blood samples and MRI scans. Your vitals seem to have returned to normal parameters, but I cannot rule out the possibility of future incidences.”

Tony rubbed a hand across his face and pushed himself to his feet. “Right. Bruce's lab it is. Fire up the machinery, J, I'm going there right now.”

“Certainly, Sir.”

As Tony made his way to the elevator his mind went through dozens of possible explanations, all of them falling short. He knew of no similar incidences that were in any way related to science, so it was probably – he shuddered at the thought – _magic._

Tony sighed. Good thing Steve had drawn his own conclusions. At least he'd been spared the humiliation of having to explain that his 'nightmare' was really more of a possibly magic-induced sexual harassment case. His head thunked back against the metal wall of the elevator. This was going to suck.

 

Not surprisingly both his blood and the scans came away clean. Tony moodily stirred his coffee as he stared holes into the kitchen table. Three hours of testing and he still had no fucking clue what could have caused... well, whatever this was. He still had a hard time believing that he hadn't just dreamt the whole thing, but the evidence – namely the one in his pants – spoke for itself. And yet...

It wasn't like Tony had any reason to be self-conscious when it came to his performance, but at his age it was a fucking miracle for _anything_ to make him come that fast, from nothing but mental stimulation no less. Which just made the possibility of a magical reason all the more plausible. But what was it? Alien viagra? Telepathic mind rape?

Tony sighed heavily into his coffee cup. He fucking hated magic. Why was it always him that got the curses and spells and shit? There was no way it could be a coincidence. Someone up there clearly had it out for him.

“Morning.” Clint mumbled as he suddenly stumbled into the kitchen, bleary eyes not even half open. Tony grunted in acknowledgement, downing his second cup in one go. One more and he'd start feeling like a human being. Possibly.

Right as he was finishing his fourth cup a sudden sizzling noise behind him made him all but jump out of his skin. He twisted around to see Steve cracking eggs into a pan, looking annoyingly chipper even though his skin was still flushed from his early morning run. At Tony's look Steve turned towards him, smiling much too brightly for this time of day.

“Morning, Tony,” he said in a way that implied this wasn't the first time he'd said it. “You want some toast with your eggs?”

Tony blinked at him for a second before a snort from Clint startled him back into motion.

“Sure,” he grumbled, heaving himself out of his chair for a refill. He clearly needed that fifth cup today if he hadn't even noticed Steve come in. Sadly the soldier was also blocking the way to the coffee maker, so Tony groggily patted him on the shoulder. “Scoot.”

“Wow, aren't you a bucket of sunshine?” Clint drawled, lazily nursing his own cup. “Long night?”

Tony grimaced at him. “Something like that.”

“What, the no sleep kind or –“

“Here you go,” Steve butted in, placing a plate in front of Clint and Tony respectively before he turned back to destroying Tony's entire egg supply for his own breakfast. That guy packed away food like nobody's business. “Less talking, more eating.”

“Yessir,” Clint saluted dutifully before digging in, thankfully dropping the subject. Tony almost didn't catch it when Steve gave him a very subtle nod. Huh. Protective Cap was protective. This might become a problem.

“So,” Clint said when he was done demolishing his toast. “I was thinking of catching a movie later, anyone in?”

Steve gave him a stern look. “You still haven't finished your mission report for yesterday.”

Clint smirked smugly. “It's on your desk. Anyway, since I'm all done, how about –“

“Mother– _fuck_ ,” Tony yelped at the sudden pain in his hand, banging his knee on the table in the process. He hissed as he grabbed his wrist, inspecting what had felt like a burn and– nothing. Again. What the fuck?

“Shit. You okay, Steve?” He heard Clint say and raised his head to look towards the stove where Steve was clutching his hand in a similar fashion with an annoyed look on his face.

“Grazed the pan,” he said, turning to hold his hand under running water. Tony could feel the pain in his hand receding the exact moment the water hit Steve's skin, a sudden coldness spreading in its stead. He stared at his palm in horror. It _couldn't_ – could it? “Don't worry, I'm fine.”

Clint chuckled, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his seat. “Alright, Captain Clumsy. So do you wanna –“ He trailed off as his gaze fell on Tony, brows furrowing. “Hey, Stark. You alright?”

Tony wasn't even listening, equations and possibilities zinging through his head at lightning speed. Linked emotions, telepathy maybe, but if he was the sole recipient then it was possible that it wouldn't only affect him and Steve –

He kicked Clint in the shin.

“Ow!” the spy cried out indignantly, glaring furiously. “What the hell, Stark?”

Not everyone then, just Steve. There had to be some sort of mind link, probably exclusive until further testing proved otherwise, related to pain and physical sensation and possibly –

_Fuck!_

Tony whipped around to stare at Steve with wide eyes, completely floored. Yesterday night, a hand on his dick, coming so fast for no reason, no recovery time –

The _serum_. Fuck, it made sense, no one else could have– Wait no, more importantly, Captain America apparently jerked off at 4am in the middle of the fucking night and _Tony had fucking felt it_ , fuck, no, why _him?_

“Tony? What's wrong?” Steve asked, brow furrowed in concern. “You're acting a little–”

“Nothing,” Tony squeaked, bolting from his chair like a startled animal. He could feel his skin flushing and prayed to God that it wasn't visible. Barton would never let him live it down. “I got – I left – something in the lab, yeah, I'm just gonna go get that now, thanks for breakfast, Steve, you're –“ He choked on the playful flirtation he would've normally thrown out there without a second thought. “Anyway, thanks, don't mind me, I'm just gonna –“ He practically threw himself into the elevator, punching the buttons until the doors mercifully closed and he could rip at his hair without anyone there to witness his mental break down.

Last night, that was _Steve_. Steve had been the one to – And Tony had come so fast from it, too. It made a sick sort of sense, if their feelings were linked or whatever, that Tony has gotten hard so fast and – Did the link transfer arousal too or was that all Tony's reaction to Steve's touch?

Steve's _touch_ , Jesus Christ, Tony was so fucking dead. If Steve found out that Tony had front row tickets to his private parties he would fucking kill him, or probably kill himself out of embarrassment, not to mention – Fuck, this could turn into such a big problem in the field if Tony didn't let Steve know and how would Tony even start a conversation like that? Hey, sorry, but last night you sort of got me off through my brain and now I know the serum makes you shoot off in like two seconds, oops.

Tony put his head in his hands. He fucking hated magic.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to update, the next chapter won't take this long, I promise. Life got in the way for a little while there. Thanks for all the feedback so far, I really appreciate the comments and kudos :) I hope you enjoy this one!

Logically Tony knew he couldn't keep this from Steve. The team too, of course, but especially Steve. Tony was a logical guy, he knew what the logical thing to do was and logic demanded that he tell Steve.

Or just figure this out before anything else happened. Yup. Sound plan.

He trudged into the workshop, waving his hand to pull up three screens in the air as JARVIS, bless his soul, opened up all the test results he'd gotten in the past hour without Tony even needing to ask. He went over them piece by piece, hoping he'd find some clue that he'd overlooked before, anything to give him a scientific solution to the problem. But there was only so much time he could spend on pointless denial before he had to admit to himself that there was nothing unusual about his body's chemistry. Oh well. Life never did make things easy for him.

Since the examination ruled out any physical traces of alien interference in Tony's body, it was possible that whatever had brought this on either had no physical source or was somehow tethered to Steve. At least Tony hoped it was, otherwise he'd have to accept help from an outside source, namely Doctor Strangelove and that was just, no. Just no.

Tony paced through his lab, fiddling with schematics for Natasha's improved widow bites to keep his hands busy as he pondered over the information he had. This link between him and Steve couldn't be older than a day, otherwise he would have felt Steve getting kicked through a wall during their last fight with the octopus. So whatever had created the connection must've happened either towards the end of the fight or at some point after.

Tony sighed. That really didn't give him much to go on. He hadn't witnessed most of what happened during the battle since the octopus had wrecked his suit and kicked him out of commission smack dab in the middle of it. It especially sucked that he'd missed the final blow. Clint told him the damn thing had bled in rainbow colors. At least he'd gotten a good laugh out of his team's state after it literally exploded all over them. It's not everyday you get to see a rainbow Hulk.

Tony sipped his coffee as he pulled up the footage of the fight that he'd 'borrowed' from SHIELD's servers. Thank God for Coulson and his compulsion to document everything. Tony wasn't really big on reviewing their fights like this, unlike Cap who watched and rewatched and rerewatched their battles to point out any and all of their mistakes and nag them about their injuries. But when the video footage started playing Tony couldn't help but feel a little proud as he watched his team jump around on screen, seamlessly playing to each others' strengths. Looks like Thursday movie nights were paying off, they'd really come together as a –

He squinted, leaning closer towards the screen. “Loop the last eight seconds, thirty percent speed.”

JARVIS complied, blowing up the screen for good measure so Tony didn't have to strain his eyes. Natasha jumped from a stone wall to land a hit, getting swept out of the air by Tony and right there in the background –

“Pause.”

Nothing. He could've sworn there was –

“Go back two frames. Zoom in on the upper – there.” Tony's brow furrowed at the yellow light that seemed to emerge from – wait. “JARVIS, replay the last two seconds, five percent speed.”

“Certainly, Sir.”

On screen Tony swept Natasha away and revealed – yeah, that was a tentacle, reflecting a strange yellow light for just a split second as it darted forward to hit Tony hard across the back, busting his left shoulder plate. Tony remembered that hit. He'd crashed hard, only just managing to put his body under Nat's as they hit the ground and –

Oh crap. Cap had caught them.

Tony groaned and put his head in his hands. He might've come in contact with whatever the yellow stuff was through the smashed suit and it was possible that Steve had touched his exposed shoulder when he broke their fall. So maybe – was Natasha in it, too?

“JARVIS, where's Nat?”

“In the training room, Sir.”

“Pull her up.”

One of the screens lit up with live footage from the gym where Clint and Natasha were facing off in the ring. They were circling each other slowly, muscles taut like wires coiled to snap. The image eerily reminded Tony of predators on the hunt.

He startled when Natasha suddenly pounced, roundhouse kicking in an attempt to get Clint in a headlock with her thighs, but Clint dodged her neatly, his responding punch blocked by her forearm. They continued like that, dancing around each other with deadly intent. It was as terrifying as it was weirdly beautiful until it came to an abrupt end. Tony winced, reflexively grabbing his own stomach when one of Clint's punches landed, hitting Natasha in the stomach so hard that she doubled over. But fortunately the pain never came. Tony let out a slow breath, waving a hand as he turned back to his notes.

“Turn that off, J.”

JARVIS complied and Tony crossed Natasha off his mental checklist with a good amount of relief. If he had to feel what she and Bruce got up to in the middle of the night he might actually blow his brains out. Not that any of it was confirmed, but Tony knew UST when he saw it and –

_Fuck!_

He choked, catching himself with his hands on the desk when he suddenly felt a tightness in his stomach that bordered on pain. For a second he thought it might be a delayed reaction to Clint's punch, but when his stomach started gurgling pathetically he realized what it meant.

“Oh, for fuck's sake,” Tony complained loudly. “JARVIS, is Steve in the kitchen?”

“He is heading there right now, Sir.”

“Great,” Tony grumbled, moodily skipping through the rest of the battle footage to see if he could find other instances of yellow light. There were none. “I knew the guy could eat, but _damn_. His stomach's like a black hole.”

“Perhaps if you made more of an effort to keep your own body well-fed you wouldn't be feeling the effects quite as severely.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “Is that disapproval I'm hearing there, J?”

“Wouldn't dream of it, Sir.”

“Well,” Tony sighed and pushed himself to his feet. “No use delaying the inevitable. Close that down, J.” He walked over to the elevator, still holding his aggressively rumbling stomach. “Man, I'm never gonna judge Cap for being a foodie again, that hunger is _brutal_.”

“Captain Rogers' metabolism was severely –“

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Tony waved JARVIS off as he pressed the button to the common floor. “Knowing it and experiencing it are two different things though.”

“Very true, Sir.”

Tony arrived at the kitchen just in time to see Steve heaping a small mountain of food onto a plate. It smelled absolutely heavenly and Tony's stomach cramped so hard that he grimaced.

“Hey, Tony,” Steve greeted him absently, retrieving a fork and knife from the drawer. He'd clearly just cooked and yet the kitchen was completely spotless. Tony had no idea how he did it. “There's leftovers in the fridge if you're hungry.”

“Thanks, Cap,” Tony said, making his way over to the coffee machine because priorities. Steve wolfed down his food at the table in record time as Tony fixed himself a cup in comfortable silence, humming under his breath. At least he tried to keep it comfortable even though he was buzzing with tension, trying to ignore the weird feeling of warmth sliding down his throat every time Steve swallowed, his stomach calming down all on its own. Apparently that hunger was all Steve's. If this was what an out of body experience felt like then Tony was very unimpressed. Zero out of ten, would not recommend.

“You alright, Tony?”

Tony jumped, whipping around to see Steve to his left, apparently washing the dishes even as he looked at Tony with a furrowed brow. Tony's hands warmed when Steve dunked them into the dishwater and he wrinkled his nose. This whole thing was seriously fucking with his brain.

“Tony?”

Tony looked up at Steve and – ah fuck, there was the concerned frown. “Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired.”

Steve hummed, utterly unconvinced. “You ran out pretty fast earlier. Did something happen in the lab?”

“Uh, yeah, you could say that,” Tony said evasively, averting his eyes. “I left DUM-E with a fire extinguisher to look after a few tests, but that didn't work out so well.”

Steve eyed him for a second longer before he apparently decided to let it slide. “Alright. You'll tell the team if it's something serious, right?”

Tony gave him a wide grin, saluting cheerfully. “Of course, Captain.”

Steve shook his head with a small smile as he put the last pot on the drying rack and made his way out of the kitchen. “Make sure to eat something. You can't live off coffee forever.”

“I can try!” Tony called after him, pouring himself another cup. He had no intention of taking Steve's leftovers. Now that Steve had eaten he really wasn't hungry anymore. If that was going to become a trend this whole thing might not be so bad after all.

Tony fixed himself one more cup to go before making his way over to the elevators. Maybe he could actually get some work done before he started looking into more possible explanations for his predicament. Pepper had been on his ass for _days_ about the new stark phone upgrade. And who knew, maybe this whole thing would just blow over on its own –

He startled, drawing his shoulders up instinctively when he suddenly felt water pelt down on him. His head whipped up to the ceiling, but of course nothing was there. Steve must be taking a shower.

Tony sighed and tried to relax, stubbornly ignoring how weird it was to feel water on his skin when he was fully clothed and dry. At least the water was warm. He started humming under his breath, sipping his coffee as the elevator started moving and –

His cup shattered on the floor as he fell against the wall, crying out in surprise. Tony slapped his hands over his dick, putting pressure on it to try and distract himself from the rough strokes that almost made his knees buckle.

“Fuck!” he shouted, grappling at the elevator wall to find purchase and push himself back upright only to double over as intense pleasure rushed though him. “ _Fuck!_ ”

“Sir, your heart rate is –“

“I know!” Tony gasped in annoyance, trying not to panic as he felt his balls drawing up, way too soon, but fuck, he couldn't stop it –

He came with a howl, thrusting into his own hands to amplify the feeling of Steve's fist on – _Steve_.

His eyes snapped open wide, ice cold dread rushing through him not even halfway through his orgasm. He panted heavily, his fingers clenching in the fabric of his jeans as the implications of what just happened hit him like a sledgehammer.

Steve was masturbating. In the shower. Not knowing that Tony could feel it.

Tony gritted his teeth when Steve's hand started moving again, apparently back to business – Fuck, did Steve have no refractory period at _all?_ How many times a day did he –

Tony froze when he realized what this meant. Steve wouldn't stop. Tony would have to endure another round of painful fucking and he couldn't do anything about i–

The alarm went off.

Tony gasped when the sensation of Steve's hand suddenly left him, slumping heavily against the wall. Fuck, that had been too close. He wasn't sure he could have taken another session like last night.

“Sir, are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Tony panted, running a hand through his hair as he pushed off the wall, finally noticing that the elevator had stopped at the workshop some time ago. “Get me a suit, J.”

He grimaced as he peeled his soiled pants away from his body to change into his flight suit. Tony liked sex just as much as the next guy, but this was ridiculous. He'd have to talk to Steve first thing after the mission.

“This is Captain America,” he heard Steve over the speakers. “Anyone copy?”

Tony fumbled his comm link into his ear, flicking it on as JARVIS displayed live footage from Times Square on the screens around him where a group of bad guys was apparently – well, wrecking shit. “This is Iron Man. I'm gonna head out early. Catch you there.”

He heard Steve sigh exasperatedly and grinned as the suit assembled around him. “Don't engage until we get there. You hear me?”

“No promises,” Tony drawled and shot up the takeoff ramp, heading towards the sky. “Barton might need some time to get off his ass.”

“This is Hawkeye, estimate five minutes til takeoff,” Clint drawled and Tony could hear the telltale sounds of a pre-flight check up. “Also, fuck you, Stark.”

Tony laughed as he shot out of the building and into the sky, already seeing a cloud of dust in the distance. “Don't worry, Clint,” he said with a wide grin as he took off. “I'll leave some for you.”

By the time they got back the whole team was tired and grumpy, stinking up the briefing room with the rancid smell of rotten cheese. Tony didn't know where those sewer creatures had come from, but to be honest he couldn't care less. All he wanted was a hot shower before he passed out on his couch.

“Fucking rats,” he heard Clint grumble under his breath as they both entered the elevator, pushing the buttons to their respective floors. The others were still at debrief, but Tony had wiggled out of it with the excuse of suit maintenance. Looks like Clint had found an excuse, too. “Next time I hear someone make fun of sewage workers I'll shoot them in the face.”

“It's a living,” Tony sighed, grimacing as he took off his helmet. Getting all that gunk out of his armor was going to be a bitch. “I have a newfound respect for exterminators.”

“And pied pipers.”

“Amen.”

The doors opened and Clint stepped out, grimacing when the sewer water sloshed around his boots.

“Well, have fun scraping that shit off,” Clint said, waving over his shoulder. “I'm gonna drown myself in soap now.”

“Wash your mouth out while you're at it,” Tony quipped tiredly, leaning against the wall. He was fucking beat. Who knew chasing rats through winding tunnels could be so exhausting. Maybe it would've been more fun if they hadn't spit foul smelling acid. Tony was just lucky it didn't affect his armor.

A screen popped up to his left as JARVIS alerted Tony of an incoming call from Fury, probably about damage reports or something. Tony waved it away, too tried to deal with this shit now. His legal team could manage the specifics.

“JARVIS, tell Hendricks to make a donation to city hall regarding the destruction of the sewers,” he said, closing his eyes as he rested his head against the wall. “And make sure it's used only for that.”

“Gladly, Sir.”

“And block all calls. Full black out.” Tony stripped off his undersuit as the doors opened and he stepped into the workshop, digging through a drawer for a change of clothes. He made a beeline to the shower, patting the crate his damaged suit had arrived in. “Be a dear and start cleaning things up for me, J. DUM-E, you can help.” A deafening crash answered him and Tony winced. “On second thought, Butterfingers, you're up.”

He ignored DUM-E's dejected beeping as he locked the door, dropping his undersuit in the sink before stepping into the shower. Tony moaned at the hot water pressure, washing away all the layers of grime and sweat. He lathered himself with soap four times before he felt reasonably clean, turning off the water and toweling himself off.

Tony frowned when his skin still felt wet and checked in the mirror to make sure before he realized that it must be Steve who had probably made his way home by now and was still in the shower. Tony tensed involuntarily, anticipating another unexpected orgasm, but it never came. Apparently even a super soldier's sex drive could be dampened by a dive in New York's sewer system. Thank God.

Tony sighed. He couldn't ignore this issue any longer. Steve would only get angrier the longer Tony kept this from him and even Tony had to admit that it was a dick move to keep this a secret. He'd tell him tomorrow.

By the time Tony had thrown his undersuit down the laundry chute JARVIS and Butterfingers had already gotten rid of most of the foul smelling slime.

“Good work, guys,” Tony said, patting Butterfingers on his camera and getting a happy beep in response. Something nudged his leg and he looked down to see DUM-E sheepishly offering him a smoothie.

“Thanks, buddy,” he sighed, patting DUM-E as well and smiling when the bot spun in place to show his excitement. “Anything lethal, J?”

“It should be safe for consumption, Sir.”

“Great,” Tony said, gulping half of the smoothie with only a small grimace. Where had DUM-E even found spinach down here? “Let's get this over with.”

It took two and a half hours to scratch all the slime out of iron man's gears and crevices. By the end of it Tony was fighting to keep his eyes from drooping, the face plate almost slipping out of his lax grip more than once.

“Sir, I feel like I should inform you that you have been awake for 72 hours, excluding the two hours of disturbed sleep last night. I suggest you move to your room for proper rest. U and Butterfingers can finish the reassembly.”

Tony rubbed his aching forehead, eying his half-assembled armor. He almost had it back together and the bots couldn't really mess anything up at this point...

“Sure,” Tony agreed with a sigh, putting down his screwdriver. “I'm crashing here though.”

“Sir, I really think –“

“Lights, JARVIS.” Tony trudged over to the couch where he flopped down gracelessly, too exhausted to even take his shoes off. His head had barely hit the pillow before he was out like a light.

It felt like barely a second had passed before Tony jerked awake, his arms instinctively flailing to break his fall from the couch. He still landed hard on his front, groaning in pain when he realized that – _Fuck_.

He stuttered out a moan on his next breath, hips reflexively rutting forward as he became aware of just how _hard_ he was, so turned on he could barely see straight and –

Fuck, Steve was at it again, fast strokes like he was already close and Tony couldn't even brace himself –

“Argh,” he groaned wordlessly, fingers clawing at the floor as he came so hard he almost blacked out, humping the ground desperately to chase the feeling, so good, so _good_ –

Tony panted heavily, his heart pounding in his ears, but Steve wasn't done, kept up that same brutal pace and it was tolerable _now_ , but in a few seconds –

“Fuck!” Tony yelled, twisting around and grabbing at his crotch with both hands. “Fucking – fuck, _no,_ Goddammit!”

“Sir?” JARVIS said in alarm and Tony howled when Steve sped up, his cock hurting more and more with every stroke, God, he was fucking _dying_ –

And Steve must've come because he abruptly slowed down and then stopped and Tony let out a sob of relief, cradling his dick to protect it. Fuck, he couldn't do this anymore, why the fuck was Steve doing it _again?_ He'd jerked off _three times_ today –

His breathing hitched when the hand returned and now he was crying for real, actually bawling into the workshop floor because he couldn't take this, this was worse than torture –

“Sir, I'm alerting –“

“Don't,” Tony gasped, because fucking hell, he'd rather die than have anyone see him like this. “JARVIS, I swear to God, I'll – _Fuck!_ “ He whined when Steve started stroking him – _them_ – fast and hard right from the get go and Tony's cock felt like it was getting torn apart in the worst possible way, but – Fuck, he was getting hard again, what the fuck, _how_ –

JARVIS was saying something, but Tony couldn't hear it over the sound of his own harsh breathing, getting louder and louder the more desperately he tried to suck in air because Steve didn't let up and it hurt so bad, but it felt kind of good and what the fuck was even happening –

Just as he started getting dizzy from the lack of oxygen Steve stopped, abruptly, and Tony was left panting into the floor, tears still running down his cheeks. For a long moment he couldn't move, still holding his crotch in a death grip as if that would help things.

“Sir? Help is en route.”

Tony's eyes snapped open and he wiped a hand over his face to hide the tears. “What? No! Why did you –?“

Fuck, he knew those footsteps. Tony gritted his teeth as they pounded down the stairs seconds before JARVIS opened the door to let Steve in.

“Tony?”

“What the fuck, JARVIS?” he snapped tearfully, still trying to get his breathing under control as Steve hurried over. Fuck, why _him?_ “I'm fine! You're not supposed to –”

Steve broke him off by grabbing Tony's face to make him look at him, but Tony slapped his hand away in a surge of anger. Steve quickly backed up, looking at him worriedly.

“What happened, Tony? JARVIS said –“

“I don't care what he said,” Tony yelled, the way his balls still throbbed in pain making him see red. “Go back to your sad wank and leave me the fuck alone!”

It was only when Steve went beet red that Tony realized what he'd just said and all blood drained from his face. His expression must've been very incriminating because Steve's eyes widened in disbelief.

“You –“ Steve choked before embarrassed anger made him flush even more. “What the fuck, Stark?” he roared, standing up to tower over Tony with a furious look on his face. “You said there were no cameras in our apartments!”

“There aren't,” Tony choked out, panicked, but Steve just scoffed with so much disgust in his voice that it made Tony cringe. The look Steve gave him made Tony feel lower than dirt.

“I would have expected a lot from you,” Steve gritted out fiercely. “But this is really fucking low.”

Tony could only watch as he walked away, his back ramrod straight with repressed anger. The door clicked shut after him almost silently. Tony would've preferred if he'd slammed it.

 

He should've expected the slap in the face the next morning, but somehow it still managed to surprise him.

“Where. Are. They,” Natasha practically growled in his face, murder in her eyes. “I've combed the place four times and I found nothing so _where are they?_ ”

Tony sighed heavily, putting down his cup on the kitchen table before he looked directly at her. “There are no cams, Nat.”

He resisted the urge to fidget as she scrutinized him for a torturous moment before she gave a tight nod. “Alright. Care to explain why Steve would think otherwise?”

Tony cringed, looking off to the side. “Yeah, about that –” He felt sweat forming on his brow under the strength of Natasha's glare and cleared his throat weakly. “Well –”

“Mornin'.”

Tony almost cried in relief when Bruce came trudging into the kitchen with bleary eyes, making for the coffee machine. Tony threw himself at him without preamble, pushing him back towards his lab. “Brucey-bear! My man! I got a problem you should help me fix. No worries, I'll bring the coffee –“

He squeaked when a knife embedded itself in the doorway only inches from his face. Fuck. So much for that.

Tony closed his eyes in resignation, turning back with a strained grin. “Why don't you join us, Nat?”

She smiled sweetly. “It would be my pleasure.”

They had barely even closed the door before Natasha pinned Tony with a deadly glare, arms crossed over her chest.

“Explain. Now.”

Tony let himself lean heavily against one of Bruce's desks, rubbing his hands over his face. “Okay, so. You remember the space octopus?”

Both of their expressions soured as they nodded. Guess they still hadn't gotten the rainbow out of their uniforms. Or stretchy pants in Bruce's case.

“Alright, so I watched back the footage and it had a yellow tentacle, kinda glowy, pretty gross looking. It whacked me with it and when Steve caught me he must've gotten in touch with it, too.”

He could see recognition in Natasha's eyes. “When you pulled me out of the air, right?” she asked, brow furrowing. “You got injected with something?”

“Maybe.” Tony shrugged. “It's just a theory, but I haven't found a better explanation yet.”

“For what?”

Tony sighed heavily, hanging his head. “I can feel whatever Steve's feeling.”

There was a beat of silence before Bruce spoke. “Everything? Emotions, sensations, thoughts, all that?”

“No, just –“ Tony waved a hand about, searching for words. “Physical things. He burned himself on the frying pan yesterday.” He pointed at his wrist. “Temperatures too, I could feel the warm water when he showered.”

Natasha narrowed her eyes. “Does Steve know?”

“Err...” Tony looked off to the side uncomfortably. “Not exactly.”

“When did this start happening?” Bruce asked, already halfway through readying his equipment. “If it's because of some chemical –“

“Already checked, Bruce,” Tony sighed. “No physical traces. At least not in my body.”

“So maybe it's magic,” Natasha theorized and Tony grimaced. “Don't make that face, Stark. It's possible. But we should check with Steve first. See if he noticed anything.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed lamely and Natasha raised an eyebrow.

“You haven't told him yet. Why?”

Tony shifted in his seat. “It's just awkward, okay? I'll tell him as soon as we're done here.”

“So when _did_ it start?” Bruce repeated, looking at Tony with a scrutinizing gaze. “And how did you realize what happened?”

“Two days ago. I was in the kitchen when he burned himself. Pretty hard evidence,” Tony said nonchalantly and Natasha narrowed her eyes.

“That's when you realized it was Steve. But something happened before.”

Tony huffed irritatedly. “How do you _do_ that?”

“Is it –“ Natasha cut herself off, looking stunned for a split second before she got an amused twinkle in her eye. “It wouldn't happen to be the reason why Steve thinks that you have cameras in his room, would it?”

Tony hoped to God his skin wasn't looking as hot as it felt. “Well...”

Bruce's eyes widened before his mouth twisted sharply, cheeks bulging out. Tony sighed tiredly, waving a hand in defeat. “Just let it out.”

Bruce broke down laughing, supporting himself on his desk as he bent double and even Natasha had to hide a chuckle behind her hand.

“Oh my God,” Bruce got out between laughs. “Only you, Tony. Only you.”

Tony let them have their fun for a minute before he raised his hands and shouted “Okay, okay. Can we get back on topic, please?”

“Sorry,” Bruce gasped, wiping a tear from his eye. “Oh man. Have fun clearing that one up.”

“Can't wait,” Tony deadpanned and Natasha put a hand on his shoulder.

“Don't worry,” she said sweetly. “It can't be harder than it already is.”

He groaned, putting his head in his hands. “You're terrible.”

“Just think about how many people would like to be in your shoes, getting a handy from Captain America,” she continued with a teasing grin and Tony grimaced.

“If only you knew...”

She raised an eyebrow, but thankfully dropped the subject as Bruce started brainstorming possible causes. Tony gladly let himself be sucked into the science until his stomach suddenly growled loudly.

“Damn,” Natasha whistled. “I thought you ran on brain power and caffeine.”

“It's Cap,” Tony sighed, holding his stomach with dismay. “His hunger pains are like stomach cramps.”

“So he's gonna be in the kitchen soon,” Natasha said, standing and stretching her arms over her head. “Perfect. Let's talk to him.”

Tony gave her a pitiful look and she rolled her eyes.

“Don't be a wuss, Stark. He's gonna find out sooner or later. And I bet he'd rather hear it from you.”

Tony sighed heavily, following her and Bruce to the kitchen. “I hate it when you're right.”

“Get used to it,” she quipped and Tony didn't miss the fond look Bruce gave her. Yeah. Really glad he didn't have to piggy back on that mess.

When they rounded the corner Steve was already there, cracking what looked like two cartons of eggs into a batter.

“I'm making pancakes if you want any,” Steve said kindly, giving Natasha a smile even as his eyes darkened when they landed on Tony. Before Tony could react Steve turned away, stirring the batter with considerably more force now.

Tony sighed very quietly as he took a seat at the kitchen table. Natasha and Bruce were speaking amongst themselves about something or another, but Tony's eyes stayed firmly fixed on the tense line of Steve's back as he puttered around the kitchen. He had no doubt that Steve could feel him staring, but he was sort of hoping that Steve would give him an opening to start the conversation. Instead Steve finished making their meal, placing a huge plate of steaming hot pancakes in the middle of the table before nodding at Natasha and Bruce with a forced smile and turning to leave the kitchen, apparently not hungry anymore.

“Wait, Cap!” Tony called after him, rising from his seat. “We need to talk.”

Steve's shoulders stiffened, but he did pause for a moment.

“Fine,” he said curtly before continuing the trek to his room, obviously expecting Tony to follow. Tony sent one last desperate look at Natasha and Bruce who only gave him a thumbs up in return as they helped themselves to the pancakes – unhelpful fuckers – before he went after Steve, closing the door behind him.

Steve stood in the middle of the room with his arms crossed and a spectacular frown on his face, giving Tony a grimly expectant look. Tony gulped.

“I, um. I don't really know where to begin,” he stuttered out and Steve scoffed.

“Yeah? How about you start with why you disrespected my privacy?” Steve asked coldly and Tony winced, raising his hands placatingly.

“It's really not what you think, Cap. I – Can we sit down?” he asked a little desperately, but Steve just gave him an unimpressed look.

“I'd rather stand, thank you.”

“Right,” Tony said nervously, clearing his throat. “Okay, so. Remember the space octopus?”

Steve visibly had to reign in his surprise at the topic change, but he covered it quickly with an even deeper frown. “What does that have to do with –?”

“Just – hear me out, okay?” Tony cut in before he could lose his nerve. “Alright, so during the fight the thing hit me with a weird tentacle and then smacked me into you and I'm not a hundred percent sure yet, but I think it might have done something.”

Steve still looked severely unimpressed, but at least he was listening, so Tony continued nervously.

“And, um. Two nights ago I was sleeping in the workshop and, uh. I – JARVIS called you down, remember?”

“Yes,” Steve said curtly.

“Well, I wasn't actually having a nightmare, I, um. I – fuck, how do I say this?” Tony ran a hand down his face, looking around the room to find words, but came up empty. “You, uh – well, I –“

“Just spit it out, Stark!”

“You jerked me off,” Tony blurted out and immediately cringed. He chanced a look at Steve to find his face completely, disconcertingly blank. Tony gulped. “I, uh. You know, I felt a hand, um. On my dick and I didn't know what it was at first, honestly I thought it was some sort of alien mind control thing or something, ran a bunch of tests in the lab, but nothing came up. And then the next day in the kitchen I felt it when you burned yourself and I – well, I guess I can feel everything you feel right now. Not emotions or anything!” he clarified quickly when Steve's eyes widened in horror. “I can't read your mind, it's just – you know, physically I feel your pain and – well, everything else,” he trailed off lamely, averting his eyes as Steve visibly connected the dots, not liking the picture they made.

“Oh my God,” Steve breathed, a hand coming up to cover his mouth and now he _did_ sit down on the couch, a stricken look on his face. “Oh my _God_.”

“Yeah,” Tony said awkwardly, shuffling his feet. “I, uh. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I didn't know how to –“

“Oh my _God!_ ” Steve repeated miserably and he looked so dismayed that Tony's brow furrowed in concern.

“Uh, Cap, you okay?”

“You felt me –“ he cut himself off, blushing furiously. “ _Do_ that? Like... how? Like I was doing it to you?”

“Well, yeah,” Tony admitted, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. “Listen, I know this is weird and I'm honestly sorry for invading your privacy like that, but –“

“JARVIS said you – oh my _God!_ ” Steve's eyes widened as he looked at Tony. “You were – of _course_ you were, I – _fuck!_ ” He put his head in his hands, groaning pitifully. “I _hurt_ you! I never would've – If I had known, I never –“

“Woah,” Tony exclaimed, holding his hands up in alarm. “Slow down, soldier. This isn't your fault, okay? I should've told you right away, but –“

“No, I get it,” Steve said, agitatedly running a hand through his hair even as he gave Tony a strained smile. “I wouldn't have known how to broach the subject either. But, um.” He flushed completely red. “But this – I mean, it'll stay between us, right? I mean, of course we'll tell the team about – everything else, but –“

“Well,” Tony coughed uncomfortably. “Nat and Bruce kind of found out?”

Steve moaned miserably, hiding his face in his hands. “ _How?_ ”

“You, uh. Apparently told Nat about cams in your room.” Tony said and Steve sighed, nodding weakly.

“And of course she figured it out. Makes sense.” He looked up at Tony apologetically. “About that, uh, the cam thing. I'm sorry for thinking you'd – I just – well. I'm sorry.”

“Don't sweat it, Cap,” Tony waved him off with a crooked smile. “I would've thought the same thing.”

Steve sighed, shaking his head. “No you wouldn't have. I'm really sorry, Tony. I had no grounds to accuse you of something like that and I should've trusted you when you said you hadn't done anything.”

Tony was honestly a little floored by that sincere apology, but he swallowed the lump in his throat and chuckled. “Okay. You're forgiven if you come with me to the lab and help me figure this out. We couldn't find anything in my bloodstream, so maybe it comes back to you in some way.”

Steve nodded, straightening his back with newfound resolve. “Alright. Let's find Bruce.”

“Let's,” Tony agreed, patting Steve on the back as they walked to the door. “And, uh. We're fine, right? No need to make a big deal out of this.”

Steve gave him a tense smile. “Of course. No big deal.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JARVIS is best wingman. I hope this chapter clears up some things about Tony and Steve's predicament. Let me know what you think! :)

“Nothing?” Tony asked miserably. “Are you sure?”

“I tested him for every chemical I know,” Bruce said, a little annoyed. “Yes, I'm goddamn sure. You're both perfectly healthy. Well, as healthy as it gets for you anyway.”

Tony let his head thunk down and groaned into the table as Steve turned towards him in alarm.

“'As healthy as it gets'?”

“Not important,” Tony grumbled. “So what you're saying is that we can't do anything about this.”

“We can,” Bruce sighed, pushing his glasses up. “But not on our own. We'll have to call Doctor Stra–“

Tony groaned heartily. “Nooo...”

“Yes,” Bruce deadpanned, phone already at his ear. “This is serious, Tony. We'll need all the help we can get.“

“That doesn't mean we have to call that douche–“

They all startled when an orange light suddenly sparked into existence on their left, swirling into a circle that opened to reveal –

Of fucking course. Tony sighed.

“Do you have to be so fucking dramatic?”

“Good day to you too, Mr Stark,” Strange said coolly, brushing off his coat as he glanced around the room. “You require my assistance?”

“Yes, thank you,” Bruce said, giving Tony a stern look when he snorted derisively. “It's good to see you, doctor.”

“Likewise, doctor Banner,” Strange said, accepting the handshake. “What seems to be the problem?”

Bruce turned towards Tony with an expectant look in his eyes and Tony groaned before he turned to Strange who was giving him an utterly unimpressed look.

“Alright. Previously on the Avengers...”

Strange didn't move a muscle for the entire time that Tony recounted his story, not even a nod or a twitch of his lips. When Tony was done Strange hummed thoughtfully, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Rainbow colors, you said?”

“Yeah,” Tony said, a little annoyed. “Why does that matter? I never touched its blood.”

“It matters because I only know of one creature like that,” Strange said grimly. “And it doesn't bode well for you.”

Tony had just opened his mouth to retort when the door suddenly banged open, revealing a hunk of big, blonde and buff.

“Friends!” Thor boomed because he had no concept of an indoor voice, immediately wrapping Bruce up in a tight hug and lifting him straight off his feet. Tony winced. That looked painful. “I have returned from my realm at earliest convenience, but I appear to have missed your fight with the Kraken. A formidable foe, but I hear you defeated him quite extraordinarily. Though it saddens me to hear that battle was necessary, usually the Kraken knows better than to take a violent approach.”

Tony was too stunned by that statement to evade Thor's aggressive affection and gasped when Thor's arms threatened to crush his lungs. “Can't... breathe...”

“Oh! Apologies, my friend, I forgot the frailty of mortals such as you,” Thor said with the air of someone who had no idea that he had just offended an entire race. “Ah, I see the wizard is here as well. What brings you here, doctor?”

Strange accepted his handshake with considerably more caution than Bruce's. “The same thing that brought you back to this realm, Mr Odinson. Your teammates have been put under the Kraken's spell.”

Thor whipped around to fix first Tony and then Steve with a piercing look. Then he snorted. “Ah. That is unfortunate.”

“What's unfortunate?” Tony asked suspiciously, a little miffed by Thor's obvious lack of concern.

“That the Kraken has failed its purpose,” Thor said, gesturing towards them with a grin. “Every few years the mighty beast sets out to find a suitable mate. But considering the state of you it seems to have made a mistake.”

Wait, what?

“ _Mate?_ ” Tony asked in a high-pitched voice, looking at Thor in terror. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Oh, do not worry yourselves,” Thor waved him off. “The Kraken cannot cast evil magic as other beings can. It only searches for a recipient of its offspring, creating a link between its mind and theirs in an attempt to test their compatibility.” Thor gave Tony and Steve an amused smile. “Apparently it missed its mark. Your fighting spirit must have intrigued it enough to attempt to court you even though you could not possibly carry its children. But seeing as it did not manage to tether the connection back to itself in the commotion of the fight the spell must have latched on to the nearest provider.” He nodded at Steve. “Usually a bond like this wouldn't survive in such an incomplete state, but since the Kraken was forced to give up its search and has no choice but to continue fueling this faulty spell, it has not been undone.”

“But we blew it to pieces!” Tony said, a little desperately. “Right? It exploded! How do you kill something more dead?”

Thor laughed so loudly it made Tony's ears ring. “Kill? Nay, friend Tony. You mortals lack the means to slay a foe like the Kraken. It probably retreated back into the oceans once the spell was cast, perhaps leaving behind a splash of ink to cover its tracks.”

Tony groaned, putting his face in his hands. “Wonderful. So where'd it go?”

“I cannot sense its presence in this realm,” Thor said cryptically, looking off to the side with a faraway gaze. “It must have been recalled to Asgard. I assume whoever aided it on its path to Midgard has also brought it back.”

“And who would benefit from this?” Steve asked curtly. He looked so tense that Tony wouldn't be surprised if his muscles just snapped under the strain. “If we know who brought it here maybe they can reverse it.”

“It hardly matters who opened the portal,” Thor said unconcernedly. “The Kraken is protected by my people as a symbol of fertility and prosperity. We grant it free passage through the Bifröst. Besides, there is no reversing the Kraken's magic.” Thor raised his hands placatingly when everyone's eyes widened in horror. “Rest assured, it is not permanent. It should wear off once mating season has passed.”

Tony tried not to sound too frantic when he asked “And how long will that take?”

Thor hummed. “Three months. Maybe four.”

“ _Months?_ ” Tony screeched and Thor shrugged.

“Five at most.”

Tony let out a heartfelt groan, putting his head in his hands. “Great. Fantastic. And there's nothing we can do?”

“There should be a way to reverse the spell faster,” Strange mused, stroking his beard. “You aren't the first humans to be cursed by the Kraken even though your case is... unique. At least we don't have to worry about it trying to impregnate you.” Tony stared at him blankly and Strange shrugged. “People have died in stranger ways. But perhaps I can find a quicker solution than just waiting it out.”

“That would be great,” Steve said tersely, his hands clenched into fists. “How long will it take you to find something?”

“I can't be sure,” Strange said, tilting his head. “Our archives are very extensive, it'll take time to find the right counter spell. I'd estimate about two weeks, four at the most.”

Before Tony could voice his displeasure Steve gripped his arm tightly, cutting off any complaints.

“Thank you,” Steve said seriously, shaking Strange's hand. “We really appreciate your help.”

“Well, it is my job.”

“Now, friends,” Thor exclaimed loudly, clapping Bruce on the shoulder so hard that he staggered under the weight with a yelp. “There is much to celebrate. My return to Midgard as well as your glorious triumph over the Kraken. Let us hold a feast!”

Before anyone could react he started dragging Bruce to the common area, already shouting for pizza and mead. Strange gave Tony one last nod before he rotated his arm, creating another portal to step through into what looked like a temple. It closed behind him with an orange fizzle, taking the doctor with it as if he'd never been there.

That only left Steve and Tony who stood in awkward silence for a minute, not really sure how to address the elephant in the room.

“So...” Tony eventually said reluctantly, shuffling his feet. “I guess we're stuck like this. How do we –“

“I won't –“ Steve butted in, pausing for a second to continue in a quiet voice as a fierce blush spread over his face. “Do that. While we're – I mean. I think it would be best for both of us if I just held off on that for however long it takes to sever the connection.”

“A few weeks at most,” Tony agreed hesitantly, giving Steve a concerned look. “You're really okay with that? I know it's –”

“Of course,” Steve said lightly, clapping him on the shoulder with a just slightly forced smile. “How hard can it be?”

 

Ha. Hahaha. Ahahahaha. Life was fucking hilarious.

“I said _left_ , Hawkeye! _Left!_ How the fuck can you misunderstand that?” Steve barked into the comms, his shield slicing through an enemy so viciously that the creature split in two, bouncing back with enough force to leave a dent in the concrete wall. “And where the fuck is that evac? Iron Man!”

“On my way,” Tony gritted out irritatedly, blasting two more aliens before taking off into the sky. “I was pinned down over there, can you maybe chill?”

“Shut up and get over here,” Steve roared, throwing his shield so hard it actually got stuck in a solid metal beam. “Fuck,” Steve cursed loudly, punching his way through enemies to get it back, practically foaming at the mouth with rage. “ _Iron Man!_ ”

“I'm here! Jeez,” Tony snapped, slamming a couple bad guys in the face as he landed next to Steve. “Can a guy catch a break? I just blew up a building!”

“You can rest when you're dead,” Steve ground out, yanking his shield out of the beam and immediately slamming it through another creature's skull. “Widow, ETA on that evac.”

“Five minutes out, Captain.”

“Good. Everyone get ready to –“

“ _Fuck!_ ”

There was a loud crash over the comms and in the distance Tony could see debris flying.

“Widow, report,” Steve snapped, still wailing on his enemies. “What's going on?”

“Those fucking _idiots_ ,” she snarled and Tony said a quick prayer for whoever had made her sound like that. “They crashed the jet. Evac's not coming.”

“ _What?_ ” Steve whipped around, the look in his eyes so murderous that Tony instinctively flinched back even though it wasn't directed at him. “Where are they?”

“Sanford and Main, but Cap –“

“Be there in five,” Steve growled, leaving no room for argument. “Keep them there.”

What followed was the most brutal beating down Tony had ever seen. Steve was like a whirlwind, leaving behind a sea of blood and broken bones. Tony was pretty sure at one point he saw Steve rip a guy's arm clean off without blinking an eye. By the end of it Tony was just standing there, uselessly gaping as Steve disposed of the last straggling enemies with a cold form of efficiency, uncaring whether or not they were still breathing by the time he was done.

“Guess that takes care of evac,” Tony mumbled under his breath, looking off to the side where a bunch of civilians were crowded against a wall, just staring at the massacre with wide eyes. Tony sighed, trudging over to shoo them away.

“Alright, show's over, people!” he called, pointing them down the street. “That way's cleared now, please stay calm and get the fuck out of here.”

They complied immediately, some still holding their cellphones to film the whole thing and Tony internally groaned. Great. Another social media scandal was just what they needed. If Steve ripping a guy's head off wasn't a gif by tomorrow morning he'd be very surprised.

Steve was apparently done by now because he marched right by Tony, his muscles bunched up threateningly even though there were no more enemies around. Tony hurried to catch up.

“What was _that?_ ” he asked suspiciously, falling into step beside him. “Not that I don't appreciate a good –“

“Stop.” Tony's mouth snapped shut at the icy rage in Steve's voice. “I don't have time for your bullshit right now. So do me a favor and shut the fuck up.”

Tony was so stunned that he stopped in his tracks, watching speechlessly as Steve walked away. He never even paused to look where Tony went.

Tony shook his head, taking off into the air to take a shortcut over the buildings, spotting Clint's form on a skyscraper in the distance. He zoomed over, grabbing Clint by his outstretched arms to pull him along.

“Nice timing, tin man,” Clint said with a strained smile, rotating his foot when they landed near the wreckage of their jet. He must've pulled something. “Man, I'm getting too old for this shit.”

“You and me both, hawkass,” Tony said distractedly, mournfully eying the debris. “Aw man. I just upgraded it too.”

“Damn shame,” Clint sighed. “Anyone know who was responsible?”

“Just a bunch of rookies.” They turned to see Natasha walking over to them, her hair somehow still perfect after the battle. She seemed to have gotten away without a scratch, typical. “They lost communication to main base when they steered through Thor's thunder clouds, so they tried to land. Pilot got distracted trying to help me clear a path for civilians and they crashed. No casualties though.”

“At least there's that,” Tony sighed. “Good thing we didn't need evac in the end or that would've gotten ugly real fast.”

“Guess we got lucky.” Clint shrugged, shouldering his bow. “Alright, now where's that SHIELD truck? They should've been here by –“

“What the _fuck_ were you thinking?”

They all spun around to see Steve towering over the baby agents who had crashed the jet, all staring up at him with wide, traumatized eyes. Tony swore he could feel the temperature on the battle field dropping several degrees in the wake of Steve's fury.

“Well?” Steve snapped when none of the agents spoke up. “Do you realize you just caused millions of property damage? Not to mention what could have happened! You almost let civilians die on your watch! Who piloted this jet?” One of them meekly raised a trembling hand. “You. Do you realize how close you just came to killing innocent people? That would have been on _you_. Are you aware of that? Answer me, soldier!”

The agent honest to God whimpered and Tony had heard enough. He walked over in quick strides, pulling off his helmet as he went. Steve was still going, looming threateningly over the trembling pilot.

“This is unacceptable. If we had actually needed that evac you guys would have been the ones with not one but two of the Avengers on their conscience –“

“Okay, that's enough, Cap,” Tony butted in, stepping in between Steve and the agents to properly frown at him. “They did the best they could. No harm done. It's–“

“No harm _done?_ ” Steve snapped, turning his anger on Tony. “What kind of a bullshit excuse is that? Just because we got lucky doesn't mean that they can get away with mistakes like this!”

“What, because the rest of us are so infallible?” Tony snapped back, hackles rising. “They made a mistake, they made the best of their situation and nobody got hurt. If that's not a best case scenario I don't know what is!”

“And what if they hadn't?” Steve yelled, a vein throbbing on his forehead. “This could've just as easily ended in dozens of deaths and you want me to what, just _let it go?_ ”

“No! I want you to stop being an asshole!” Tony snarled, waving a hand at the cowed agents. Several of them were visibly struggling not to cry. “Look at them! They know they fucked up and they just survived a fucking plane crash, give them a fucking break!”

Steve scoffed, looking at Tony with such condescension that Tony felt his hands ball into fists. “Yeah, because we both know that people who fuck up learn their lesson best when no one calls them out on it, huh, Stark?”

Tony felt his blood run cold. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Steve gave him an icy look. “I'm saying that just because yelling at _you_ never helps doesn't mean that others can't learn from their mistakes.”

Tony's mouth snapped shut. He swore he actually saw red for a second before he caught himself, very calmly stepping into Steve's personal space, the suit putting them at eye level.

“You listen to me, you sanctimonious prick,” he hissed, stabbing a finger into Steve's chest. “You might think you have the right to boss people around from your precious fucking high horse, but you are just as likely to make mistakes as the rest of us. And I won't stand for you guilt tripping a bunch of _kids_ who were just trying to do their fucking job when you're the one who...“

Tony trailed off, eyes narrowing at the way Steve's breathing had ever so subtly changed, pupils blown and – holy shit, he could actually feel it now –

A quick look down confirmed his suspicion and he openly gaped at Steve who's face was rapidly turning beet red.

“Are you serious?” Tony asked incredulously. “What are you, a fucking teenager?”

“I can't help it,” Steve gritted out through clenched teeth, his eyes dark with rage. “I wouldn't be like this if you hadn't been so fucking careless in the first place–“

“Oh for fuck's sake, Rogers,” Tony roared. “Just jerk off if you can't fucking handle it! Or better yet, get your pathetic ass laid!” He choked when his stomach twisted in an echo of Steve's arousal and couldn't help the hysterical laughter bubbling out. “God, I can feel how fucking desperate you are, just– Just go!”

Steve's fists clenched tightly enough to tremble as he visibly fought to keep his composure. “I have this under control,” he growled and Tony laughed viciously.

“Sorry, Cap. Can't get that past me right now,” he said almost mockingly, tapping his forehead. “You're a fucking mess and I can tell you're like two seconds away from snapping. Not that that's far from how long you usually last.”

Steve froze, his mouth snapping closed as mortification flashed over his face so fast it almost made him look physically sick. Tony's eyes widened as he realized his mistake, but before he could say anything Steve turned and marched from the field, his back ramrod straight.

Tony turned to see the young agents staring at him, eyes wide as saucers, and sighed.

“A word of this to anyone and Fury will have your heads.”

They all nodded frantically, scrambling to get away from him. Tony ran a hand through his hair, feeling a sense of regret pool in his stomach as he looked at Steve's rapidly retreating back.

What a fucking mess.

 

Steve barely took note of his surroundings on his way to the tower, breaking every speed limit he came across. Rage boiled hot like fire in his stomach and the fact that it only seemed to fuel his erection made him grit his teeth in humiliation.

He was so fucking done.

Steve slammed the door to his room so hard it almost came off its hinges, ripping his belt loose before it had even fully closed. He actually twisted the doorknob clean off when he locked it, cursing a blue streak as he tossed it across the room. He was so fucking angry he could barely see straight as he ripped his fly open, not even bothering to get undressed before he shoved a hand down his pants and grabbed his hard cock. Even his clenched teeth couldn't suppress the loud groan when he stroked himself furiously, shouting brokenly when he came within the first five strokes.

Steve fell back against the closest wall, hands still trembling with tension. Something almost like shame curled in his stomach when he realized that he hadn't even lasted twenty seconds. That was beyond pathetic, Tony would –

His grip involuntarily tightened on his dick at the thought. That asshole was probably laughing right now, just waiting for an opportunity to throw the whole thing in Steve's face with that fucking smirk on his stupid lips –

Steve growled as he set a punishing pace, not bothering to wait after his first orgasm. It was only uncomfortable for a moment before pleasure twisted sharply in Steve's gut, almost making his knees buckle. He gritted his teeth against the feeling, stifling any sounds in his throat. He refused to give Tony the satisfaction of being right. He wasn't a slave to his body, he could control himself. He could!

Steve writhed in his own grip, shifting his stance wider so he could thrust up into his fist. Fuck, it still felt so good. He didn't even notice the fingers of his other hand denting the drywall behind him, he was already so far gone. Steve moaned when his cock twitched at a particularly nice stroke. Fuck, he couldn't–

Steve grunted, stilling his hips when Tony's smug grin flashed through his mind. No. He could hold off. His hand twisted on his cock, wringing a strangled moan from him, but he couldn't come yet, he had to show To– _Fuck!_

Steve slapped his other hand over his mouth to stifle a desperate groan as the tension in his stomach suddenly snapped, his hips rutting forward into his fist. He only managed a few more thrusts before he came so hard his vision whited out, stroking himself through it to draw out the orgasm for as long as he could.

Steve slid to the floor, letting his head thunk back against the wall as he tried to catch his breath. Fuck, that was so good. He hadn't even realized how tense he was, but the way his whole body practically melted into the floor now made him sigh in pleasure. It took a long time before he let his eyes blink lazily open and frowned when they fell on a hole in the wall across the room that had definitely not been there when he – oh. The doorknob. God.

Steve wiped a hand across his face and chuckled tiredly. He'd really been out of it, huh. Maybe Tony did have a point after –

_Tony_.

Steve froze. “JARVIS?” he croaked out with a sudden spike of fear. “Is Tony okay?”

The AI took a second to answer, which – yeah, that wasn't exactly reassuring. “Sir made it to his bedroom several minutes before you began your activities. He is currently on the floor, but otherwise unharmed.”

The neutral tone made Steve wince. “Did I– Is he hurt?”

This time the pause was even longer. Steve's stomach turned to lead. “JARVIS?”

“I had believed that you were aware of the physical effect your actions would have on Sir's body.” Steve flinched at the cool tone in JARVIS' voice. “But in case you forgot, yes, since Sir's physique is not built to withstand the pressure you used on yourself the sensations probably registered as painful.”

Steve hunched in on himself, feeling lower than dirt. “Right. Thanks, JARVIS.” He swallowed down an automatic apology. The AI wasn't the one he owed it to and Steve felt bad enough without adding his contempt to it.

“However.” JARVIS voice ripped him out of his cloud of misery. “I feel obligated to inform you that Sir has not experienced climax and seems very displeased by his predicament.”

Steve's brow furrowed. “Predicament?” The rest of the sentence caught up to him and his face flushed a deep red even before JARVIS answered.

“His erection, Captain Rogers.”

“Ah.” Steve said eloquently, shifting against the wall. “And he, um. Is he mad?”

“Not quite the word I would use.”

Steve frowned. “And what word would you use, JARVIS?”

He swore the AI sounded amused when he answered. “I believe Sir would call it 'horny', Captain.”

Steve's eyebrows rose in disbelief. Tony was –

To his dismay he could already feel his cock taking interest in the thought of Tony being hard after what he'd been doing. Assuming that it _was_ his doing. But what else could it be, really?

Tony got off on this?

Steve gulped, his cock back to full hardness already. If Tony was still hard then maybe he could –

No, bad idea, such a bad idea!

But his cock was already starting to twitch, begging for attention. He'd gone without this for so long and even on a good day two times wasn't really enough...

Steve grabbed himself tentatively, wishing for a moment that he could feel Tony's reaction, just so he'd know – He shook his head, gripping himself a little more firmly, but not as tight as he normally would. Maybe if he –

He started up a slow pace, trying to think back to what he'd liked before the serum. He'd had to be careful, too fast and he could set off an asthma attack, too tight and it would hurt after a while...

His thighs were twitching with the urge to just go for it, make himself come hard and fast and dirty, but he forced himself to keep it slow and steady, thinking of Tony in his own room, feeling Steve's touch –

He gasped at the bolt of lust the thought sent to his cock. Fuck, that was so hot. Why was that so hot?

Of course Steve had known he was attracted to Tony, how could he not be? The man was a spitfire and fucking gorgeous to boot and well, Steve had a type. But he never thought he'd actually get the chance to act on it, even if it was in such a twisted way –

He rotated his wrist on the upstroke and bit his lip as his hips jerked up at the feeling. Steve was panting with the exertion of holding himself back, but the knowledge that Tony could feel it made his blood boil despite the slow pace. He could already feel his orgasm building and the anticipation made his toes curl.

“JARVIS,” Steve gasped out, too far gone to feel weird about talking to the AI while he was doing this. “Did he – Is he –“

“Sir has not reached climax yet, Captain,” JARVIS replied and Steve gritted his teeth. “However he is making an effort to do so soon.”

Steve's eyes snapped open and his hand faltered for a second. Tony was – while he – _fuck._

Steve whined when his orgasm suddenly crashed through him, his grip tightening before he caught himself and kept it just lose enough to thrust into his fist and ride it out, groaning as he came for what felt like a small eternity. Fuck, that was intense.

He let go of his cock as it softened, finally spent. Steve stared unseeingly at the ceiling, mind buzzing with static as he caught his breath. God, he hadn't come that hard in forever. Maybe going slow had its own perks.

He blushed when a thought hit him. “Um. JARVIS?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Did he –“

“Sir is still lying on the floor,” JARVIS answered, sounding almost amused. “But his general mood seems to have lifted quite considerably.”

Steve closed his eyes, chuckling. “I guess that answers that. Thank you, JARVIS.”

“Glad to be of service, Captain.”

 

Tony was at a loss.

He looked down into the black depths of his coffee as he stirred it moodily, a headache already forming even though it was six in the fucking am. It was going to be one of those day. Maybe he should've just stayed asleep.

Honestly at this point Tony was pretty sure he could never look Steve in the eye again. It was one thing to feel him jerk off when he couldn't do anything about it, non-participatory, completely out of his control, yakety yak. A bit painful, a lot inappropriate, but at least no one could blame Tony for it. The first round yesterday had been like that. A reeling orgasm and a whole lot of yelling at JARVIS not to interfere this time – no matter what – when the agony set in. Business as usual.

But then...

He grimaced when he thought of how hard he'd come the second time, when Steve had been gentle, taken breaks, been considerate...

Tony slapped his hands to his face to groan into them. What the fuck was wrong with him? It wasn't like Steve had done it _for_ him, it was – Guilt probably when he'd realized how the first round must've affected Tony. Steve had most definitely still been horny because once was apparently never enough and _God_ , what the hell was Tony's life that he actually knew that for a _fact_ now? And now here he was, doing the walk of shame in his own fucking home and without even having sex. Wait, did this count as sex? Had Tony _had sex with Steve?_

Tony gulped down another cup of coffee before the panic could fully set in. Ah yes, hot caffeine goodness. Nothing to worry about, nope, everything was just fucking fine and dandy even though Tony had reached new levels of depravity by perving on Captain America –

Tony put his head on the table and sighed. It was way too early for an existential crisis. Okay, so what he'd done was probably morally ambiguous, but it wasn't like he'd _planned_ on jerking off to it. Restraint just wasn't on the list of his many qualities, could he really be faulted for that?

Tony sighed. In the light of day it _was_ pretty disturbing. Because if you got right down to it he'd taken advantage of Steve's private needs for his own fucking enjoyment.

Tony had never been a good man, but this? This was seriously pushing it.

“Um, good morning.”

Tony looked up groggily to see – of fucking course – Steve standing in the doorway, his hair still rumpled from sleep and a sheepish little smile on his face. Tony's heart twinged at the sight for more reasons than one, but he ignored them all because that guilty look in Steve's eyes made his stomach drop five feet underground. Ah fuck, he wasn't ready for feelings. And Steve was just shoving them right in his face without a care in the world. Inconsiderate fuck.

“Sleep well?” Tony asked casually, taking another sip from his cup as Steve averted his eyes, blushing furiously. Tony inwardly sighed. It was way too early for this shit.

“I guess you'd know if I didn't,” Steve said lamely before taking a deep breath and meeting Tony's eyes with steely determination. “Listen, Tony, I want to apologize for the way I've been acting over the past five days. I know I've been –“

“Okay, no. Let me stop you right there,” Tony butted in, hands raised placatingly. “Look, not gonna lie, you were pretty shitty to be around for a while, but you had every reason to be, so. No need to be sorry.”

Steve looked like he wanted to say more, but Tony waved him off. “It's all in the past now, right? At least we know that if the Hulk goes MIA and we ever need a second rage monster you're just a week of abstinence away.”

Steve flinched almost imperceptibly, but the smile on his face looked a little less forced now. “Okay. But I still owe those guys at SHIELD an apology. And you too. You were just trying to calm me down and I snapped at you. I'm sorry.”

Tony hummed, taking another drink to avoid looking at Steve. He hated apologies. “It's all good, Cap. No harm done.”

“Alright,” Steve nodded and Tony quietly breathed out a sigh of relief at seeing that the haunted look was gone from Steve's eyes. Sometimes Tony was almost jealous of Steve's ability to put an issue aside once it had been cleared up instead of harboring the guilt and shame forever. Would've been mighty useful during his childhood.

“You want some French toast?” Steve asked, already pulling out their largest frying pan, but Tony shook his head, standing to pour himself one more cup of coffee to go before he went to the workshop.

“Thanks, I got all my nutrition right here,” he said with a smirk, ignoring the way Steve rolled his eyes at him. He was just about to brush past Steve to get to the door when he swayed just a little too far to the left – he blamed sleep deprivation – and accidentally bumped Steve's shoulder with his own.

Steve froze like an actual ice statue and Tony felt the sudden tension in the air like a spring coiling tight in his muscles. From the corner of his eye he saw Steve's mouth open as he turned to face Tony and felt panic rise in him. Shit.

“Tony –“

“Listen, um,” Tony blurted out, scratching his beard and averting his eyes. “I'm sorry about what I said after the fight. I mean... I get it. Sexual frustration is awful and with the serum – Just, I'm sorry. You're not weird for... you know. Doing that.”

Steve blushed as he cleared his throat and looked away. “Right. Thanks.”

Tony nodded sharply, turning to leave the room. Dodged that bullet.

“Wait!”

He whipped back around to look at Steve like a deer caught in the headlights. Steve had that look on his face like he was about to march into battle and Tony internally groaned. He didn't want to have this conversation.

“About last night,” Steve started awkwardly, but Tony waved him off.

“Don't sweat it, Cap. Like I said, I get it. No need to apologize. We've all been there.” Even as he kept babbling Tony moved backwards towards the door, ready to bolt. “Just, ah. Don't, I mean. When you do it, just... Like, the last time? That was fine. Um. More than fine.” Oh my God, shut up, Tony. “Anyway, if you do it like that, that's... fine. Yeah.”

He was two seconds from the door when Steve spoke up with genuine awe in his voice. “You... Are you saying I can keep doing it?”

Tony's eyes snapped up to Steve's, finding them bright with a complicated emotion he couldn't decipher.

“Yeah, sure, not like you're the only one who has needs.” He shrugged, beating down the heat he could feel rising in his cheeks. He hadn't blushed since the eighties and he wouldn't start now. “And I guess we've seen what happens if you don't, so. Just – Go slow, okay? So I can...” He gestured in the general direction of his crotch. “You know. Keep up.”

Steve stared at him with his mouth open for so long that Tony started to fidget, casting a longing glance at the door. “Is that it? Can I –“

He gasped, doubling over when he was hit by a bolt of lust so strong that he impulsively clapped a hand over his crotch, achingly hard in seconds. Tony heard Steve suck in a sharp breath, but by the time he looked up the soldier was already halfway across the room, avoiding Tony's eyes at all costs.

“Steve –“

“Sorry,” Steve squeaked before turning the corner and practically running down the hall to his room, slamming the door loudly.

Tony was left in the kitchen, a hand over his still hard dick and a sudden realization taking shape in his brain.

Huh.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm bahaaack :D Sorry for the long wait, guys, I've been all kinds of busy with life, but now it's calmed down quite a bit, thank fuck. So I finally got this chapter out. This story is shaping up to be a little longer than I expected, but I'm still having a lot of fun writing it, so it's fine :) I hope you'll still enjoy reading it and that I'll get the next chapter out sooner than this one.  
> Until then, have fun reading and I'll see you next time!

“– and I don't know, he's really good at it, so I don't want to complain, but I don't think my dick's been this confused since that drag party in '92 and –“

“Tony,” Rhodey groaned, looking about a second away from smashing his head into the table. “TMI, man, come on.”

“Please,” Tony sniffed, pointing his fork at Rhodey. “You've lived vicariously through me since MIT, if anything you should thank me for sharing.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Rhodey said with a small smile that quickly turned into a frown. “Okay, so you're having sex with Captain America which, wow, I never thought I'd say that. And you're, what, enjoying it too much?”

“Basically, yeah.”

Rhodey leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms. “This isn't like when you freaked out about that guy in Vegas, what was it? Trevor?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Dude, I've had enough dick in my life to know that I like it. That's not the issue.”

“Okay,” Rhodey said patiently. “Then what's wrong with enjoying sex with Steve?”

Tony looked away, tapping his fingers on the table. “Well, this whole thing didn't – I mean, it's not very... conventional?” Rhodey raised an eyebrow. “I mean, okay, look, we're not... together.”

“Yeah, I gathered,” Rhodey deadpanned and Tony shook his head.

“No, I mean we're not in the same room when we... When Steve does it. And it's not like we had a choice.”

Rhodey's brow furrowed. “Correct me if I'm wrong, but in my experience you have to be in the same room to give each other handjobs.”

“Not when it's telepathy you don't.”

It took a second, but when it sunk in Rhodey's eyes widened almost comically. “Wait a minute, don't tell me you – Holy fuck, you got whammied by _aliens_ into doing it with _Captain America?_ ”

Tony sighed at the undisguised glee in Rhodey's voice, hiding his face in his hands. “Yeah.”

“Oh my God,” Rhodey shouted, breaking into laughter so loud that it turned heads three tables over. “Man, that's so fucked, what did the poor guy do to deserve this?”

Tony watched with a disgruntled look as Rhodey all but slapped the table laughing. “Oh yeah sure, no, go ahead and side with the source of my problems. Some best friend you are.”

Rhodey wiped a tear from his eye as he finally stifled his laughter enough to shake his head at Tony. “Only you, man, only you.”

“Okay, can we get back to the part where it's a problem?” Tony asked candidly, tapping his fingers on the table. “Thor says it's not permanent but to be honest I don't know how much longer I can deal with this.”

“You're not dealing with anything in the first place, Tony. It's not your style.”

“Point. But I can't lock this out of my workshop, so I have to do something about it.”

Rhodey gave him a shrewd look. “Even after all these years you still manage to surprise me with how dysfunctional you are.”

“Thanks, platypus.”

“Not a compliment.”

Tony sighed, rubbing his eyes. “So what the hell do I do? I can't just... tell him that I like what he does, that's fucking weird.”

“Yeah. Talking about your feelings. Perish the thought,” Rhodey said flatly and Tony pointed at him.

“Exactly! He'd just get all embarrassed about it and stop jerking off and then we'll all suffer from his depressing sex-cloud again.”

“Of course. The sex-cloud,” Rhodey sighed. “Why the fuck am I still trying to make sense of what you say?”

“Shut up, you know what I mean.”

“Look, from what you told me I don't really see a problem,” Rhodey said, holding up a hand when Tony tried to interrupt him. “No, listen. You clearly like him in some way. Don't give me that look, you've had your 'I-got-a-crush' face on all night and yes you do have one, happens every time. And you might not believe it, but Steve likes you too. I can't judge how much, I barely know the dude, but you guys are friends now, right? So just talk to him. Figure out what he thinks about all this.”

“I wouldn't say friends,” Tony protested, thoughts racing as he pondered Rhodey's suggestion. “And it's not – I mean, I don't think of him that way.”

Rhodey sighed. “Whatever, man. I'm just saying, I bet he likes you a lot more than you give him credit for.”

Tony took a long sip from his wine glass, looking off to the side. “He's not – I mean, I don't even know if he likes men.”

“Not what I meant. And what does it matter, it's not like you want to start a relationship with him.” Rhodey gave him a sharp look. “Do you?”

“Please,” Tony scoffed. “Me and Cap? Don't be ridiculous. I like the sex, that's all.” Rhodey raised an eyebrow and Tony frowned. “What?”

“Nothing.” Rhodey stirred his drink and took a sip. “I'm just saying. 'Got-a-crush'-face is a thing.”

“It's not, but thanks.” Tony tapped his fingers on the table. “So you think Steve likes me. Why?”

“You said he got a boner from talking to you,” Rhodey said with a raised eyebrow and Tony threw his hands in the air.

“After five days of abstinence! It might've been, like, residual horniness or something.”

“Or something.” Rhodey shook his head. “Look, I don't know, man. You can sit here and go crazy because you don't know what's up or you can suck it up and just ask him.” Tony took a pointed slurp from his glass and Rhodey rolled his eyes. “Of course you won't. Why do I even bother? Okay, tell me then. What's the incredibly overcomplicated, dumbass alternative you've come up with to avoid acting like a normal human being?”

Tony grinned.

 

“Coffee?”

Tony blinked blearily, drawn up from his slumped position by the heavenly smell of –

“Coffee,” he moaned, making grabby hands at Pepper who slid a small mountain of documents onto his workbench.

“You can have it if you promise to get these back to me by tomorrow,” she said and he nodded furiously, grabbing his prize and downing it in one go. “Jesus, Tony. How long have you been down here?”

“Not that long –“

“21 hours and 54 minutes, Mrs Potts.”

“Tony!” she exclaimed, horrified, and Tony glared at the ceiling.

“Traitor.”

She put a hand on his forehead and clucked her tongue disapprovingly at his temperature. “You promised not to do this anymore.”

“Yeah, well.” Tony rubbed out a crick in his neck. “This can't wait. Gotta finish by tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah?” Pepper said skeptically, crossing her arms over her chest. “What were you working on?”

Tony stared unseeingly at the schematics for – his repulsors? He'd been in the middle of upgrading... something or another, he couldn't really remember. Rubbing his eyes to try and focus didn't help either, his thoughts immediately circled back to Steve. Steve and his stupid fucking boners. And the fact that Steve might not hate it if Tony was the one to do something about those boners. Fuck.

“Okay, I think you're done for the day,” Pepper said sternly, grabbing Tony's arms to pull him to his feet. “You're going to eat some real food and go to bed and tomorrow you'll be on your best behavior for the board meeting.”

“You're not my real mother,” Tony complained, wincing at her frosty glare. “Alright, fine, I'm going. Geez.”

“And take a shower, you stink!” she called after him as he entered the elevator and he gave her a tired salute as the doors closed.

He almost fell asleep on his feet when the ding of the elevator rudely jerked him awake. Tony stumbled into his penthouse, heated himself some leftovers and ate them as quickly as possible all in a daze. He grimaced at the taste. If Steve was here he would've –

Tony let his plate clatter into the sink, tempted to slap himself in the face to get these goddamn thoughts out of his head. His talk with Rhodey hadn't brought him any closer to finding a solution and he was getting frustrated. Why was this so hard?

Tony was no stranger to being wanted. He'd learned early on in life that making people crave him was one of the most useful bargaining tools he had. So yes, Tony recognized other people's attraction to him often before even they did.

But this situation right here? Fuck if he knew what Steve's deal was.

Honestly Tony hadn't been convinced that Steve felt anything more for him than comradeship. Friendship already seemed to be pushing it. And he was man enough to admit that it wasn't really Steve's fault. Skipping out on team activities and generally not really being there wasn't the best way to build lasting relationships, he had to admit that. Still, Tony got along with the rest of the team just fine, would call Bruce and maybe even hesitatingly Clint his friends, but Steve? There just wasn't a moment he remembered where he'd ever seen him as anything more than a comrade. But now...

Tony brushed his teeth mechanically before he stepped into the shower to rinse off all the grime from the workshop. The warm water felt incredible and he lost himself in the feeling for a few seconds, letting his head rest against the cool tiles. He'd felt Steve take a shower earlier too and – god _fucking_ dammit, could his brain maybe chill with the Steve thing?

Tony shut the water off angrily, grabbing a towel to rub himself dry. He felt decidedly more awake now which maybe wasn't that great for sleep, but this was as good a time as any to come up with a game plan.

Rhodey had to be wrong about this. The thought of Steve actually wanting Tony seemed about as plausible as the sun crashing into Jupiter. Steve was and always had been in the unattainable category. Teenage crush notwithstanding Tony had never even seriously entertained the thought of Steve as a potential partner. Not that he'd never fantasized about Steve, hello, peak of human perfection, Tony wasn't fucking blind. But that didn't really count, did it? He was pretty sure corpses would be moved by Steve's appearance.

Maybe it was just a situational thing and Steve would get over it once this whole thing had blown over. Maybe that kitchen encounter was a fluke. Maybe... Maybe Tony just didn't want to believe that his childhood hero wasn't as beyond reproach as he'd originally thought.

Tony sighed, shaking his head at himself. This was getting ridiculous. It wasn't like he didn't know Steve had needs like any other person. But to have it shoved in his face like this...

He jumped when he felt the sensation of cold fingers on his stomach, making blood rush to his dick faster than he could blink. Fuck, by the time this was over he'd have a Pavlovian complex or something.

Tony went into his living room and sat down in a chair, peeling back the towel with only a small amount of residual shame. This was a thing that had kept happening the past week. Ever since he'd given Steve permission they were back to the three times a day routine. Luckily Steve hadn't almost suffocated Tony since and JARVIS told him he even asked if Tony was doing anything important before starting. But still, this was a problem. Because Tony had started looking forward to this more than he should and – fuck, if Steve ever found out Tony was in so much trouble.

Steve's fingers wrapped around him and Tony grabbed his cock in exactly the same spot, closing his eyes as the sensations layered over each other. It had been weird the first time, but now that he'd had time to experiment with it the feeling was enough to make him embarrassingly hard in seconds. He kept his own hand still as Steve started stroking, moaning at the friction. It didn't take long before Steve stilled, probably coming the first time and Tony grinned lazily, taking over with his own hand. Thank God Steve had figured out that Tony couldn't –

Tony choked, grip reflexively tightening when he felt fingers tentatively stroking the sensitive skin behind his balls. What the – _shit._

His hips rose on reflex when a finger suddenly prodded at his entrance.

“Holy fuck,” Tony breathed, eyes wide and his heart suddenly hammering. Jesus, Steve was –

He grunted as the finger slipped in, all the way without stopping. Steve wasn't fucking around. Only a second later it pulled out and –

“Fuck!” Tony shouted, jerking as Steve rubbed at his prostate so precisely – God, Tony would have _never_ thought – why was Steve so good at this?

More importantly, _what the fuck?_

Tony squirmed as Steve's finger twisted, finding all the good spots with a practiced ease that made Tony's spine tingle and his mind race. Steve had done this before. Steve liked to get off on his own fingers. Steve was –

“ _Fuck!”_ Tony's toes curled as he suddenly came without warning, orgasm crashing through him viciously. He clawed at his chair, back arching painfully as he bit out a whine, slumping down heavily when it was over. Tony was intensely aware of Steve's finger still in his ass, waiting as if to – fuck.

“JARVIS?” Tony asked, his voice coming out so raspy that he had to cough. “Did Steve tell you to tell him when I come?”

The AI was quiet for a moment before he answered. “Captain Rogers has indeed asked me to report the time of your climax, Sir, as he was worried about hurting you.”

Tony dragged a hand down his face with a heavy sigh. What the fuck was his life.

“Okay. Captain America asked my AI about my orgasms. Great. Any other enlightening facts about this, J?”

“No, Sir. I believe Captain Rogers is afraid to encroach on your privacy any more than he has to.”

“Great. Fuck. Privacy, yeah, I knew it well.”

His breathing hitched when Steve moved his finger, pulling it out slowly only to come back with two. “Um, okay, that's –“ He coughed. “Yeah, um... JARVIS?”

“Sir?”

“Can you... fuck, this is awkward. Can you, uh. Ask Steve to wait a little longer?”

“Certainly, Sir.”

Tony held his breath as the fingers inside him stilled before they withdrew completely. He breathed out heavily, running a hand over his face.

“Fuck, okay. Captain America just fingered me. Himself. And me. Wow.”

“Sir? Captain Rogers inquires whether he should cease this session completely or wait for your signal to continue.”

Tony let his head thunk back against the chair's headrest. “Fuck. Okay, um... Tell him to give me ten minutes, then he can go again.”

“As you wish.”

Tony struggled to his feet, not bothering to pull up the towel as he made his way over to the couch. This was fucking ridiculous, telling JARVIS to pass messages like they were writing notes in recess. What were they, twelve?

He stretched out on the cushions, propping himself up on the armrest as he stared up at the ceiling. It was weird, this whole arrangement. Of course it was, it was a fucking space octopus mating spell, but the way it made him so conscious of Steve's body was unexpected. Tony had started pre-ordering food when he felt Steve getting hungry. He'd pulled him out of the gym once or twice when he was overexerting himself. It was weird. Tony wasn't made for the role of caretaker, it just wasn't in his DNA. But something about Steve...

Speaking of Steve.

Tony rolled his hips up with a content sigh as Steve gripped him hesitantly. It still wasn't all that great, he was way too old for multiple orgasms in a row, but it didn't hurt either. Felt kind of good actually. Wait.

Tony looked down in disbelief to see his cock swelling slowly but surely, fueled by what couldn't just be Tony's – oh. Guess that answered the question if Tony's body responded to Steve's arousal as well as his touches.

Tony startled a bit at the tentative touch to his balls, getting firmer with each stroke up and down his cock before the hand travelled further down until –

“Fuck,” Tony moaned, back arching when Steve slid two of his fingers back in without much of a warning, immediately honing in on his prostate. Or maybe Steve's own prostate, Tony couldn't really tell which one of them the pleasure was coming from, but Steve obviously had a lot of practice at – _fuck_ , that was good, holy –

He ground down into Steve's touch, reaching for his cock to take over where Steve had stopped stroking them. Tony hadn't been fingered in so long, he'd almost forgotten how good it felt. But even so he was pretty sure barely anyone had done it to him as well as Steve –

Tony gasped, his free hand scrabbling against the couch as Steve twisted his fingers against his prostate – God, Tony was close, he almost –

Steve stopped.

“Wait,” Tony yelped uselessly as Steve withdrew his fingers, grinding down to keep them there. But Steve's touch disappeared and Tony punched the couch in frustration. “Goddammit!”

Without pause Tony stuck his own fingers in his mouth, getting them as wet as he could before he reached down to push his towel further out of the way and stick –

Tony winced at the pain of actually pushing a finger in there. Fuck, it had really been too long if he was this out of practice. He withdrew it, pushing to his feet and hobbling over to where he distantly remembered putting – bingo.

Tony pulled the small bottle out of a drawer with a triumphant grunt, flopping back down on the couch and immediately getting back to work. He must've looked ridiculous, hunched over, naked except for the towel clinging to his thighs and both hands between his legs, but right now he didn't give a fuck.

“JARVIS, full blackout,” he remembered distantly, probably too late if someone had already tried to check on his cams for the past half hour, but oh well. They should be glad for the free show if they – ah, _fuck_ yeah, the lube made such a difference, Jesus Christ.

Tony let his head fall back as he pushed all the way in, trying to find that perfect angle that Steve had. Fuck, he really _was_ out of practice, where the hell –

He clenched hard around his finger as his gut suddenly tightened, a sharp twist of arousal that almost pushed him clean over the edge. Tony gasped, his hands spasming before the intensity waned after a second or two, but by then there was the sensation of more fingers up his ass and a hand on his cock and Tony –

“Fuck,” he groaned, hips jerking beyond his control as he rode that feeling. “Fuck, please – _ah!”_

His back arched when Steve expertly worked his prostate and Tony withdrew his own finger to grab at the couch with both hands, trying to ground himself as Steve expertly got him off. It took barely any time before Tony was teetering on the edge, his eyes closed and head back and –

The image came unbidden, of Steve actually there with him, blonde hair sticking to his forehead with sweat as he pushed his fingers into Tony to open him up for what came after. Tony whined, one hand moving down to grab his own hipbone, imagining Steve's hand there instead as he pulled Tony down onto his –

“ _Fuck!”_ he shouted as he came hard, legs spasming as he tried to thrust further into Steve's grip and thankfully Steve didn't stop this time, worked him through it all the way to the other side and –

Shit, Steve must've come too, because his grip tightened for a short moment that made Tony's breathing catch before his hands slowly eased off, fingers slipping out. Tony wrinkled his nose at the feeling, letting his head thunk back against the couch.

“Well, that was something,” he mumbled once he caught his breath. “JARVIS, anything to report? How's the Captain doing?”

“Very well, Sir,” JARVIS said and Tony was still surprised sometimes by how nuanced his AI's emotional range was by now. Tony probably wasn't imagining that note of amusement. “Captain Rogers has inquired about your wellbeing several more times and only continued his activities upon a report of your still aroused state.”

“Ah.” That must've been where that spike of lust had come from. “Alright, tell him –“ Tony froze. Would that violate some sort of unspoken rule? This whole thing was weird from the start, talking through JARVIS while they both masturbated, what the fuck even. But Tony still felt as though doing it after they were done would be one step too far.

“Sir?”

“Nothing, belay that, J.” Tony waved a hand at one of the cameras. “And lift the blackout, I've had enough lectures for a lifetime. Pretty sure Pep will strangle me the next time I miss an important call.”

“Judging from previous encounters I'd say the odds are not in your favor.”

“Knew that already, but thanks.”

Tony stretched out on the couch, too tried to make it to the bedroom now. He fished around under the pillows for a minute before he found one of the blankets, pulling it over himself and snuggling down with a sigh. By the time JARVIS closed the blinds he was already out like a light.

 

It happened during the next board meeting. One moment Tony was listening to one of his oldest board members droning on about potential shareholders and the next he was on the floor.

“Tony!” That was Pepper but Tony could barely hear her over his own strangled scream as his stomach got torn in half, fuck, it hurt so bad –

Someone grabbed his wrists and tried to loosen his grip on his stomach, but he had to keep pressing down, there was bleeding, he could feel the blood – But someone pulled his hands away, held him down and –

“Mr Stark, you have to calm down, tell me what's happening –“

But Tony wasn't listening, just staring in disbelief at his fully intact suit over his chest, not a speck of blood on his pristine white shirt.

“How –“ he gasped, ripping his hands free to tear at his buttons, hissing at the pain as he got his shirt open and – _nothing._

“Tony, oh my God, are you al-”

“Fuck!” he screamed, jerking as something hit him across the face and then rapid fire rained down on him, his shoulder, chest, arms –

“What the fuck is going on?” He heard someone shout as he yelled and twisted in pain, grabbing his stomach with both hands to keep it in, so much blood, but there wasn't any –

“JARVIS, get me Fury!”

“Yes, Ma'am.”

“Mrs Potts, medics are on their way, they are –“

“Steve,” Tony gasped out when it hit him, reaching for someone's ankle and gripping tight to make himself heard. “Steve. Where's Steve?”

“What? I don't know, Tony –“

“It's him,” he ground out, gears turning in his head. “Tell – fuck, tell the Avengers – Cap's hurt, really bad, _hurry!”_

“Commander Fury is on line one, Mrs Potts, if you –”

“Tell him to wait, get me Bruce!”

“Yes, Ma'am.”

Tony tried to stay alert, but when the next punch hit him in the stomach he couldn't fight against the darkness overtaking his vision.

 

He woke up in a hospital bed, the memory coming back to him faster than he could even open his eyes as he shot upright. “Cap!”

“Easy, Tony,” Bruce said, quickly getting up from his chair to push him back down. “It's okay, you went into shock and passed out –“

“Where's Cap?” Tony butted in, trying to fight off Bruce's grip, but the scientist was relentless. Asshole. “Is he alright? What happened?”

“Steve's on a mission with Nat and Clint. They called in from the quinjet and said they secured the target and brought him in for questioning. They shouldn't be long.”

“They mention that Cap is half fucking dead?” Tony barked, finally pushing Bruce far enough away that he could get out of the bed, wincing when a hot lance of pain shot through his stomach. “Fucking – _fuck_. SHIELD too stingy for painkillers or something?”

Bruce cleared his throat. “They, uh. Gave you some.”

Tony blinked at him for a second before he groaned. “Of fucking course they don't work on me. Great. Fucking shit.”

“Wait, Tony, you shouldn't –“

Tony ignored him, storming out of the room and through the hallways of – wait, the Helicarrier? Why the fuck was he up here?

“Mr Stark.”

He spun around to find himself face to face with Maria Hill who was giving him an unimpressed look.

“Are you expanding as a taxi service now?” Tony scoffed, waving a hand at his surroundings. “Why did you bring me here?”

“Your AI thought it would be the best course of action to bring you to the source of your little problem.” She narrowed her eyes. “Thanks for informing us about this by the way.”

“It's none of your business,” Tony snapped, pressing a hand to his stomach to try and alleviate the pain. It didn't do shit. “Fuck, okay, where's Rogers?”

“Their ETA should be around five minutes –“

“Kay, thanks, bye.” Tony hurried down the hallway to the landing pads. A vague sense of panic was still gripping his heart with every step, his phantom wounds aching. What the hell had happened to Steve that could make Tony just straight up pass out from pain? Granted, it was much better now, probably the healing factor, but this wound was no fucking joke.

Tony arrived at the landing pad just in time to see Clint hobble down the ramp, holding his right leg stiffly. “Barton!”

“Stark!” Clint yelled back. “Don't tell me you're the welcoming party! I was expecting Julia Roberts!”

“She couldn't make it,” Tony said as he walked up, giving him a quick once-over. “What happened, tripped down the stairs?”

Clint shrugged. “In my defense, it was a long flight of stairs. Sharp edges too. With bullets.”

Tony wrinkled his nose. “Yikes.”

“Yeah, no fun. We came out okay though. Cap gave us a bit of a scare but he's fine now.”

“No, he's not,” Tony said curtly, rubbing at his still aching stomach. “Where is he?”

Clint frowned. “With Fury, they went to debrief. Why, did something –?”

“Son of a _bitch!”_ Tony cursed, turning on his heel to storm back inside.

“Hey! I expect post-mission tacos later!”

Tony was fuming by the time he reached Fury's office, pulling the door open without preamble to storm inside and point at a very confused looking Steve.

“Why aren't you in medical?”

Steve looked from Tony to Fury back to Tony. “Debrief.”

“Okay, no,” Tony said furiously, grabbing Steve's arm to try and pull Steve upright. Try being the key word. “Come on, you almost died back there, you need to get your stomach checked –“

“Whoa, Tony,” Steve cut him off, prying Tony's grip loose with a frown. “I'm fine, I'll get some rest once I'm done here –“

“No!” Tony shouted, glaring at Steve. “You're hurt. You're going to medical. Now.”

“As riveting as this is, gentlemen,” Fury said coolly, folding his hands on his desk. “I'd like to finish up here, so if you could give us a minute, Stark –“

“No!”

“Tony,” Steve admonished, brow furrowing even further. “What's gotten into you? Just –“

“No, shut up,” Tony barked. “I don't know what happened back there but I know something that hurts like that doesn't just go away with 'some rest' so you're coming with me now!”

“I –“ Steve's eyes widened as he paled. “Oh fuck, you –“

“Were along for the ride? Fuck yeah I was, didn't think about that, huh? Now you can come along quietly or I'll find a doctor and drag him in here, your choice.”

Steve looked like someone had hit him over the head as he stood and mumbled “Excuse me, Sir” at Fury before he quickly fled the room. Tony sighed, running a hand over his face. What a fucking mess.

“Well, nice to see you two finally getting along.”

Tony looked up to give Fury the darkest glare he could muster. “Go to hell.”

“Warms my heart, really,” Fury said flatly. “But I'm busy so if you could get the fuck out I'd really appreciate it.”

Tony scowled at him before he left, making his way to the medical ward. Luckily no one stopped him as he entered to find Natasha on one of the cots, getting stitches on her right shoulder.

“Now who's the lucky bastard who got one over on you?” he asked and she smirked.

“Not so lucky now. I think he was still holding his balls when we left.”

Tony winced. “Ouch.”

“If you're looking for Steve, he's back there.” She nodded her head towards the back and rolled her eyes at Tony's look. “Please. He only gets the lost puppy eyes after talking to you. Go and fix it.”

“Who says _I_ did anything?” Tony protested and slumped immediately under her blank stare. “Right. If you'll excuse me.”

“Go get him, Stark.”

“Now that's just uncalled for.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

Tony sighed, pushing through the door in the back of the room to find Steve lying stiffly on a medical bed, two nurses fussing over him. Well, here goes nothing.

“Don't worry, Steve-o. Ladies dig the scars.”

Steve flinched almost imperceptibly at Tony's voice but his response was clear of emotion. “I don't get scars anymore.”

“Well, lucky you,” Tony said as he sidled up to his bed, peering at Steve's stomach and grimacing at the mottled bruising. At least it wasn't bleeding anymore. “Jesus. What did you do, get shot with an assault rifle?”

Steve winced, not looking at Tony. “It was a tank actually.”

Tony fell silent for a second before he absolutely exploded. “Are you _fucking kidding me?_ What the fuck were you doing that got you shot at with a fucking _tank missile_ you absolute _moron?”_

Steve pressed his lips together tightly. “Look, I –“

“And then you don't even go to medical? What the fuck, Steve, how often – How many – fuck, please tell me you didn't just grit your teeth and bear the pain out of some fucked up manly pride or something –“

“What?” Steve finally turned towards him to give him a bewildered look. “No, I patched myself up on the quinjet. Don't look at me like that, this really isn't that bad.“

“Not that _bad?”_ Tony screeched indignantly. “I can _feel_ how bad it is, you fucking moron! If you think I'll just let you go and fuck off when I know you're hurt then fucking think again! The team needs you, Cap, _I_ need you, and you can't run yourself into the ground like this, I won't allow it!” He got right in Steve's face, poking a finger into his chest and growled. “If you ever – _ever_ – try to hide your injuries again I will personally assign DUM-E to chase your stupid ass to medical with the fire extinguisher, do you understand?”

Steve stared at him with wide eyes before he gave a sheepish nod.

“Good,” Tony said with a firm nod of his own before leaning back, snapping a finger at the wide eyed nurses. “Now fix him up. And don't let him fool you, his right shoulder hurts like a motherfucker.”

It didn't occur to Tony until he was back at the tower that he might've let more of his concern for Steve show than he should have. First he'd watched over him like a hawk as the doctor patched him up, pointing out even the smallest scrapes they'd missed until Steve had looked just about ready to strangle him. And then he'd force fed him an entire bag of the tacos Clint had bought – with Tony's card, the fucker – because he'd felt how hungry Steve was getting. Steve had looked incredibly confused, not to mention the annoyingly smug smirk on Natasha's face, but Tony couldn't care less. If Steve didn't want Tony fussing over him he shouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place, that absolute fucking –

Oh. He liked him, didn't he?

Shit.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoohoo friends, hello again! Didn't think I'd get this out so fast, but here we are! :D We're getting closer to the end there, just two more chapters to resolve this whole mess. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and I'll see you (hopefully) soon for the next one! Thanks for reading!

“So was this the big plan? Ignore him until it goes away?”

Tony glared at Rhodey who had apparently found a way to override his blackout mode and was now leaning in the door to the workshop. “Get out, Rhodes.”

“Ooh, the last name treatment. Haven't heard that in years.” When Tony didn't answer Rhodey stepped closer to the desk to look at his schematics. “You're not even doing anything.”

Tony bristled. “Excuse you?! This is important work!” he snapped, waving at the half-finished code. “I'm almost done with this, leave me alone.”

He busied himself with the next line of code, but Rhodey wasn't deterred, leaning into his space to look over his shoulder. Tony glared at him. “Do you mind?”

“Yes, I do mind actually,” Rhodey said, raising an eyebrow. “And I'm pretty sure a robot that delivers coffee from the kitchen can wait until tomorrow.”

Tony sighed heavily, shoulders slumping. “How did you even know what it was?”

“I didn't, but I can make an educated guess,” Rhodey said, scoffing at Tony's murderous glare. “Don't try that with me. You look like shit, man. How long has it been since you slept?”

“Not long enough for the Pepper alarm, so I'm still allowed.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes. “Just because she gets notified after 72 hours doesn't mean you should stay here that long. That alarm is just so she knows when you kick the bucket so she inherits the rest of the stocks.”

“Who says I'd leave them to her,” Tony mumbled, fooling exactly no one.

“Whatever, man. I'm just here because I'm sick of the puppy eyes.”

Tony tilted his head in confusion. “What?”

“Don't give me that look, you know exactly what I mean,” Rhodey said irritatedly. “He's been driving us nuts, sulking in the common room all day like a kicked puppy. If you don't talk to that guy some time soon I swear to god I'm gonna blow someone's brains out. Preferably mine.”

“I don't even know who you're talking about,” Tony grumbled, his left eye twitching. Rhodey pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply.

“Seriously, Tony. What is this going to accomplish? He's clearly messed up about this, why can't you just –“

“Nick Thompson.”

Rhodey's brow furrowed. “Who –“

“Nicholas Thompson. Summer of '95 I think, I dumped him after two months because I wasn't ready for something serious.”

“Ookay,” Rhodey said, still frowning. “What about him?”

“He said some stuff back then, that he couldn't understand what he was doing wrong, if he could've been better or done more yadda yadda yadda.” Tony brought down his hammer on a piece of scrap metal, beating it flat before he lifted it to inspect its shape. “He was really torn up about it. Me.”

Rhodey shrugged. “Summer romance. Sucks when you have to go back.”

“It does,” Tony said, rummaging through his scrap pile for another piece. “I never really thought about him after that. But then ten years later, guess who comes up to me at a gala, new haircut, a nice little boytoy on his arm. Nick fucking Thompson. Says he wants to talk to me.” Tony chuckled flatly. “I humored him, let him buy me a drink. And he says he still misses me, asks if there's still a chance. And I tell him no, what the fuck, that was ages ago, right? And he gets this wistful look on his face and – I didn't really understand it at the time, but it makes sense now.” Tony put down the welding iron with a tired sigh, rubbing a hand over his face. “He said – 'I guess you never get over your first love'.”

Rhodey hummed. “That's rough, man.”

“Is it true, though?” Tony asked, turning towards Rhodey with a hint of despair in his eyes. “Did you get over yours?”

Rhodey chewed on the inside of his cheek for a second before he said, “Scarlet Davidson, third grade. Never forgot her smile. But I don't think that's the same.”

Tony chuckled humorlessly. “I thought I had, you know? Her name was Betty, we went to the same private school. God, I really fell hard for her.” He wiped his face with a dirty rag that DUM-E handed to him. “Got over her pretty quickly though. But –” Tony looked at Rhodey with a sad smile. “She wasn't my first love, not really.”

Rhodey frowned. “Tony, what are you getting at?”

“He used to tell me stories about him,” Tony said wistfully, looking off to the side. “My dad. Built him up to be this larger than life hero. But then he turned out so different. Hated my guts on sight, not that I blame him, and he's this sarcastic, stubborn asshole who hates froyo for some reason and curses at baseball games.”

Rhodey felt his stomach drop as he connected the dots. “Tony...”

Tony turned towards him and there was so much sadness in his eyes that it hurt Rhodey to look at him. “When I was six I used to imagine him there and... I think I just never stopped, you know? Just took me a while to see it.”

Rhodey sighed, shaking his head with a sad smile. “You never do go the easy route, do you?”

“You know me,” Tony joked, but it fell a little flat as he grimaced. “Always reaching for the impossible.”

Rhodey frowned slightly. “Not impossible.”

“Please,” Tony scoffed. “Crushing on Captain America. It's fucking pathetic.”

“I don't think it's Captain America you're going for,” Rhodey said, raising an eyebrow. “And Steve Rogers seems to like you just fine.”

Tony averted his eyes.

“He does,” Rhodey insisted. “If you'd just let him talk to you –“

“I don't want anything to happen.”

Rhodey paused. “What? Why?”

Tony huffed, spreading his arms. “Seriously? Do you understand what a bad fucking idea that would be? Even if for some reason Steve wanted me like that” His voice cracked slightly. “we would never work!”

“I'm pretty sure you would.”

Tony huffed. “How can you say that? We fight all the time, we used to _hate_ each other –“

“Remember why things didn't work out with Pepper?”

Tony gave Rhodey a betrayed look.

“Oh come on, you have to talk about it some day,” Rhodey said sternly. “It was the superhero thing, wasn't it? You couldn't be there for her like she wanted you to and she couldn't stand being on the sidelines while you put your life on the line.”

“Yes, I'm aware of my shortcomings,” Tony said icily and Rhodey put his hands up.

“No, that's not – Look, man, have you ever thought about what you could have done to make her stay?”

Tony gave him a scathing look. “Do you even know me?”

“Well, what did you come up with?”

Tony opened his mouth to give a biting retort, but thought better of it. He looked over to the display where his suits were standing at attention and sighed. “Not being Iron Man.”

“But you are Iron Man,” Rhodey said and Tony grimaced.

“Maybe I shouldn't have been.”

“Okay now that's bullshit.”

Tony chuckled weakly. “Yeah, I know.”

“So in conclusion,” Rhodey said, crossing his arms. “You can't stop being Iron Man and Pepper couldn't accept it.”

Tony nodded miserably. “Yeah.”

“And you think that's your fault?”

“Of course it is!”

Rhodey smiled crookedly. “I always have to remind myself that you're actually a genius because you're really fucking dumb sometimes.” He laughed at Tony's affronted look. “Tony, Pepper leaving was never your fault. You guys just didn't work out.”

“But I –“

“Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you were a good boyfriend. At all. Some of the things she told me...” Rhodey wrinkled his nose. “Strawberries, really?”

Tony shrugged with a wry smile. “In my defense –“

“Yeah, no. Just no.” Rhodey sighed when Tony deflated. “Listen, man. I'm not just saying this to make you feel shitty.”

“Could've fooled me,” Tony mumbled. He winced when Rhodey glared at him. “Sorry.”

“Anyway,” Rhodey continued. “Don't you think that all the reasons it didn't work out with Pepper are exactly the reasons why it would with Steve?”

Tony gave him a bewildered look. “What?”

“He understands what it's like,” Rhodey said, gesturing at the armor display. “The hero thing. He wouldn't want you to stop being Iron Man because he's always right there with you. And he wouldn't expect you to suddenly become this caring, thoughtful person because he already knows you can barely take care of yourself.”

“Gee thanks,” Tony mumbled, shaking his head with a frown. “Still. I'm pretty sure he's not interested. And even if he was I don't think I'm ready for any of that.”

“I'm not saying you have to marry the guy,” Rhodey said, putting a hand on Tony's shoulder. “Just – give him a chance to talk to you, okay? Don't shut him out.”

Tony sagged under Rhodey's touch, giving him a tired smile. “You say that like he's a sure thing.”

“Just saying,” Rhodey said, smiling right back at him. “You never know.”

After Rhodey left Tony tried really hard to convince himself that he had every reason to stay in the shop just a little longer, but eventually his grumbling stomach won out. Tony couldn't even remember when he'd last had a solid meal. Pepper would disapprove.

_So would Steve_.

Tony slapped himself, wincing at the sting as he rubbed his cheek. DUM-E beeped questioningly at him and Tony grimaced.

“Don't mind me. Daddy's just being an idiot.”

“Sir? If I may, there is leftover curry in the common room. Doctor Banner has expressed permission for you to eat it.”

Tony's stomach grumbled and he gave one of his cameras a grateful look. “You're the best, J.”

“Obviously,” JARVIS sniffed and Tony laughed. God, he loved his bots.

“Alright then,” he said, patting DUM-E on the way out and smiling at his enthusiastic beeping. “I'll be back in a flash, go charge your metal ass.”

DUM-E spun in place for a moment before he rolled over to his charging station. Tony winced when something clattered to the floor along the way. Oh well.

“Keep it running, J, I won't be long,” Tony said as he stepped into the elevator, pressing the button to the common floor.

“With all due respect, Sir, you could really use a break. I'd suggest at least eight hours of sleep in the penthouse suite.“

Tony wanted to protest, but he could already feel his eyelids drooping now that the bright lights of his holograms weren't keeping him alert anymore. “Yeah, you're probably right. Food first though.”

“Certainly, Sir.” Tony tried not to hear the relief in JARVIS' voice but the guilt still settled heavily in his stomach. When even your own AI is worried about you you really need to get your shit together.

Tony trudged into the kitchen, cheering internally when he found the plate of curry – chicken too, he could kiss his jolly green bean – and heated it up in the microwave. He debated just taking it to the penthouse, but the trek there seemed too long right now, so he plopped down on the couch in the living room, pulling up something from his netflix queue and dug in.

He was halfway through the meal when the elevator dinged and Tony's entire body stiffened. Please be Clint, please be Clint, please be – fuck.

Steve froze when he saw him, staring at Tony with wide eyes and Tony internally sighed. He really didn't want to do this now. “Hey, Cap.”

“Hey, Tony,” Steve said, leaning awkwardly against the door, crossing his arms, uncrossing them, crossing them again. “Do you have a minute?”

Tony sighed, not looking up from his curry. “Depends. What do you want?”

Steve walked over to couch and sat down directly opposite of Tony, leaning forward on his elbows. “How's your stomach? Everything okay?”

“My – Oh, right, yeah, no worries. Fixed itself when you got better.”

“That's good,” Steve said, kneading his hands. “Look, I just. I wanted to apologize. I didn't think about what would happen to you when I went on that mission and I'm really sorry that you got hurt.”

“It's fine.”

“No, it's not.” Tony couldn't help but look up at him then. Steve sounded almost angry. “It's not and it shouldn't have happened.”

Tony waved him off. “Honestly, Cap, it's no big deal. I've had worse.”

“Yeah, but that's not the point,” Steve said, the regret in his voice grating on Tony's ears. “You shouldn't have had to suffer just because I –“

“Oh come off it, Cap,” Tony cut him off brashly. “We've both gotten hurt on missions before! This wasn't any different!”

“Of course it was!” Steve snapped back. “You got hurt because of me! That's unacceptable!”

“So it would've been fine if you were the only one that got hurt?”

“Yes!”

Tony threw his hands up. “Are you fucking serious? You think you getting torn to shreds is alright, but when it affects me it's a no go?” He glared at Steve with fire in his eyes. “That wound was fucking awful, Steve. You could have died!”

Steve looked taken aback for a second before he found his footing. “What the hell, Tony? That has nothing to do with you getting hurt!”

“No, but apparently you've left your self-preservation instincts in the ice!” Tony shouted. “So I'm just going to tell you this now. You have no right to be mad about hurting me if you think that level of pain is acceptable to you! If you can take it so can I!”

Steve huffed. “The serum –“

“Doesn't stifle the pain, I know that now,” Tony bit out, tapping his stomach. “You can't fool me, Rogers. And if you think I'm just going to let this go –“

“Goddammit, Tony,” Steve shouted, suddenly angry. “I've been doing this for years, I know what I can and can't do!”

“That's exactly my point!” Tony yelled right back. “You're not allowed to ever lecture me on safety and risks ever again, you fucking hypocrite! I don't even want to know how many times you've almost died and _not even gone to medical_ –“

Steve threw his hands up. “You're unbelievable!”

“Oh, _I'm_ unbelievable?” Tony bit out and he would've yelled some more if he hadn't felt the sudden tightening in his belly that made him choke on his next breath. What?

“You don't get to say that to me!” Steve shouted, furious and clearly unaware of how the tension in the room had suddenly shifted. “You don't know how many times I've had to ask JARVIS to give me even a _hint_ of your status because you were too stubborn to admit just how badly you were injured! If you think you have the moral high ground here you are sorely mistaken!”

Tony could only gape at Steve, feeling his cock twitch in his pants. Steve just kept going, completely oblivious.

“And don't think that just because of _this"_ He gestured between them. “you suddenly know everything about me! Hell, _I_ barely understand how the serum works and I've _lived_ with it for years! So yeah, maybe that felt like a lot of pain to you but my body doesn't process it the way yours does. I didn't _pass out_ –“ Oh great, he'd heard that story, hadn't he. “but it's my fault that you did and I – dammit, Tony, I just wanted to _apologize,_ why can't you – You always –“ Steve trailed off with a frustrated groan, putting his head in his hands.

Tony stared at him with wide eyes, waiting for that moment of realization but it never came. Steve just shook his head and stood up, giving Tony an apologetic look.

“I just – I'm sorry for hurting you, Tony. Even if you don't want to hear it.”

And with that he left, leaving Tony on the couch with a throbbing hard on and no idea what just happened.

 

Steve threw himself face down onto his couch, groaning into the armrest. He didn't understand what he was doing wrong. How was it that Tony always managed to derail any attempts at a peace offering Steve made? He was running out of options at this point.

Steve sighed. He'd thought that the embarrassment had been the worst part of all this, but Tony getting hurt really took the cake. He was still mad at himself that he hadn't thought about it at the time. And now he would have to bench himself even though he'd just started to get back into the flow of things at SHIELD and he really felt like he, Clint and Natasha were becoming friends...

He muffled his frustrated groan in one of the pillows and shifted to lie down more comfortably – and wow, that felt really good. Steve ground down into the couch, eyes rolling shut at the feeling. God, he'd completely forgotten about that today after –

Fuck.

Steve froze, mortification washing over him when he realized that Tony must've felt him get hard before he did. His awkward silence at the end suddenly made a lot more sense.

“Shit,” Steve groaned, rolling onto his back to rub his hands over his face. This was getting out of control. He wasn't usually this fucking desperate. What the hell was wrong with him that he got hard just from _talking_ to Tony? Shouting at him no less.

A small part of his mind whispered that he knew exactly why, but he squashed that thought with a vengeance. He'd always known that his attraction to Tony would come back to bite him in the ass someday. Even before the serum Bucky had always told him that he fell too fast and too hard, no matter if his chances were realistic or not. And even now that he wasn't that shrimpy kid anymore and had people falling over themselves for a chance to talk to him he chose to carry a torch for an unattainable genius billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist. Whatever.

Steve sighed into his hands before letting them fall down to his sides, staring at the ceiling. He knew better than to get his hopes up, but some stubborn part of him had held on to those feelings for years now despite the fact that Tony had been with Pepper for most of that time. Being with Tony was a fantasy that simply refused to die and Steve had resigned himself to living with it. Only he hadn't counted on ever being able to act on it. Even if it was in a fucked up way like touching himself and knowing that Tony could feel it. He'd come so hard when he'd imagined Tony there with him as he fingered himself...

Steve's cock throbbed just thinking about it and he clenched his fists in frustration. This had to stop. He couldn't keep feeding into a fantasy that was never going to happen. Even if Tony wasn't averse to Steve as a person he was still pretty sure that Tony didn't get with men. He'd never seen evidence to the contrary and a thorough warning from a traumatized Clint kept him away from any and all google searches. Not that he would have watched the sex tapes otherwise. Much.

Steve struggled to his feet, hissing when the movement ground his cock into the seam of his jeans. Yeah, this wasn't going away. He gave his crotch a forlorn look before he turned and headed to the shower. Cold water would take care of it. He had a team to feed anyway.

 

“Dude, you don't look so hot. Are you okay?”

Steve looked at Clint with his most deadpan expression.

“Just asking,” Clint said, shoving another spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. Natasha slapped his hand when he tried to steal a baby carrot from her plate. “Ow! But seriously, you took a pretty bad fall back there.”

Steve sighed, pushing food around on his plate. “I've had worse.”

Clint hummed. “I guess you're right.”

He went right back to his dinner and Steve felt a sudden anger rise in him. Just like that? Why the fuck was it so easy with Clint and when he and Tony –

Steve took a deep breath, fighting a hysterical laugh. Who would've thought that he'd find out about having a massive temper just because he couldn't jerk off. If he'd known this was going to happen with the serum... well, he would've taken it anyway but he probably wouldn't have been able to look Dr Erskine in the eye for a while after.

“Seriously, you alright? You look a little flushed.”

Steve felt his traitorous cheeks heat up even more at Clint's comment and he stabbed his sausage with a bit more force than necessary. “I'm fine.”

Natasha rolled her eyes, putting down her fork. “Look, I know he can be a bit much but he always comes around. He'll let you in eventually.”

Of course she'd guessed what the issue was. Steve sighed heavily. “We already talked.”

Clint whistled through his teeth. “Ooh. That bad?”

“Worse.”

Clint shook his head. “You guys just can't deal with things without lashing out, can you?” He held up a hand. “Don't answer that, I know you can't.”

Steve aggressively chewed his potato, swallowing before he spoke. “Your point?”

“Look, man, I really don't want to get involved,” he said and pointed his spoon at Steve. “But if you don't sort your shit out you can't go on missions anymore.”

“Of course I can't!” Steve suddenly shouted, glaring at Clint. “After that, why would I? I'm not going to get him hurt!”

“Whoa,” Clint said, looking a little taken aback while Natasha just raised an eyebrow, unimpressed as ever. “Okay, chill. Just thought I'd mention it. Fury said he's going to bench you until Strange finds a cure.”

Steve visibly deflated, slouching in his chair as he propped his head in his hands. “Yeah, I know. Sorry.”

“No worries.”

As Clint gathered his dishes and put them in the sink Steve was hyperaware of Natasha's eyes on him. He bristled when she just kept staring at him even after Clint left. “What?”

“You're overthinking this whole thing.”

He glared at her. “What thing?”

“Your thing with Tony.”

Steve sputtered. “We don't – I don't have a _thing_ with Tony, what are you –”

“The telepathy thing,” she said flatly and Steve snapped his mouth shut. Natasha grinned. “Although your other Tony thing is pretty interesting, too.”

Steve groaned, covering his face with his hands. “What do you want, Nat?”

“Just don't overthink it.” He looked up when she stood, stacking her dishes on top of Clint's before she put a hand on Steve's shoulder. “You might have better chances than you think.”

Steve kept staring at the door for a long moment after she left before he shook himself out of it. The way Natasha seemed to know everything never got any less creepy.

He stood up with a sigh, trudging over to the sink to start washing the dishes. He was only about halfway through when he heard the elevator ding.

“– and start running the simulation on that – oh.” Tony paused on his way into the kitchen, looking at Steve for a second before he grimaced, moving over to the fridge. “On second thought I'll just do it myself. Keep the bots busy til I'm back.”

“Certainly, Sir.”

“Tony –“

“Not now, Capsicle, I have a new gadget to test,” Tony said curtly, pulling leftovers from the fridge to put them in the microwave. “But if it's important I'll pencil you in somewhere. How does next Tuesday sound?”

Steve's hands clenched into fists at the clear dismissal, but he took a deep breath, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. “Look, I'm sorry for shouting at you, but you weren't any better –“

“What?” Tony asked bewilderedly before he seemed to snap out of it. “Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry for shouting too I guess, even though you deserved it.”

Well now Steve was just confused. “You're not mad about the shouting?”

For a moment it looked like Tony would deflect, but then he sighed. “No.”

“Then what?”

Tony gave him a long look and Steve thought he saw a hint of uncertainty before Tony visibly steeled himself.

“Why'd you stop?”

Steve frowned. “Stop what?”

“You –“ Tony cut himself off, cleared his throat. “You were jerking off earlier.”

Steve went beet red, clenching his hands into fists. “I'm so–“

“And I couldn't finish because you took a cold shower right after.” Steve froze when Tony gave him an annoyed look. “You usually go at least two rounds, why'd you stop?”

Steve stared at Tony, his entire body stiff with tension. “You... you're mad because you... couldn't finish?”

He thought he saw a hint of a blush on Tony's cheeks as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Well yeah. Wouldn't you be?”

Steve gaped at him, feeling like someone had clubbed him over the head. What the hell was – oh. He sucked in a breath through his teeth when his stomach tightened. Shit.

He could see Tony tense up where he stood and felt his cheeks heat up rapidly. “Oh shit, Tony, I'm so sorry –“

“You want to do something about that?”

Steve blinked rapidly, following Tony's gaze to his crotch where his sweatpants were already tenting. His face was on fire as he shook his head. “I'm so sorry, Tony, I swear I didn't –“

“Because I could help with that. If you wanted.”

Steve's head whipped up to find Tony looking at him defiantly. Below the bravado was an almost vulnerable glint in his eyes that made Steve freeze where he stood. There was no way –

“You're serious?” he asked numbly and Tony shrugged, looking away.

“I mean, we're both here and I'm obviously on board –“ He gestured at his own crotch and Steve swallowed heavily when he saw how hard Tony was. “And we wouldn't have to bother JARVIS because honestly that is so second grade and he has better things to do than –“

“Yes.”

Tony looked at him with a hint of surprise and – yeah, that was definitely a blush now. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Steve repeated nervously, looking Tony up and down. “How do we –“

He gulped when Tony stepped closer, a lot more confident that Steve was feeling right now. Tony stopped directly in front of him, looking up through his eyelashes and – wow, Tony was pretty short when he – fuck.

Steve sucked in a breath when Tony ran his hand over Steve's crotch, just a brush of his fingers.

Tony looked up at him with dark eyes. “This okay?”

Steve had to suppress a shudder at Tony's voice, nodding numbly. “Yeah.”

Tony smirked and Steve only had a moment to marvel at how sexy it was before Tony gripped him through the fabric, giving an experimental stroke. Steve's breathing hitched and he could see Tony's hips thrust instinctively forward.

“Jesus,” Tony breathed and Steve could only second that sentiment before Tony ran his fingers along his waistband, steadily pushing it down until Steve's cock bobbed free. They both hissed at the feeling.

“Can I?” Tony asked and Steve hummed encouragingly, transfixed by the contrast of Tony's skin against his. Tony grabbed him confidently and Steve tried to keep his breathing even as Tony stroked slowly up, learning the shape of him. He swallowed heavily when Tony's hand found a slow rhythm, ending with a twist that made Steve's knees shake every time it passed over the head. He drew in a shaky breath, reaching back to hold himself up on the counter.

“Is that how you do it?” Steve asked quietly, cataloguing every movement, the grip strength, everything. He heard Tony make a choked noise and looked up to find him staring at Steve incredulously, apparently aware of what Steve had been doing. Steve blushed heavily, looking away. “Sorry.”

“No, no, it's –“ Tony gasped when he pressed his thumb up against the underside of Steve's glans. “Fuck, that's weird.”

“What is?”

“I can feel what I'm doing,” Tony said, biting his lip as he squeezed Steve's cock hard enough to make Steve's hands twitch. “But it's mirrored. Like – someone else's hand, but it's doing exactly what I'm doing.”

Steve gulped at the reminder that Tony wasn't just jerking _him_ off, he was – god and Steve hadn't even thought about all the possibilities, wouldn't have _dreamed_ that this could happen, but now...

He reached up to run a hand over his own collarbone and Tony's eyes snapped up to track the motion before he gave Steve a calculating look. Steve just smiled, moving further up to brush his fingers along his neck, his jaw, up behind his ears –

And Tony's hand tightened as he choked on a breath, eyes wide as he stared at where Steve was caressing himself. “Fuck...”

“Is that good?” Steve asked and hissed when Tony started stroking him faster, his balls already drawing up. Fuck, he was close. “Tony –“

“Keep – there.” Tony reached up to press his thumb into the dip behind Steve's ear and moaned when Steve gasped. “Fuck, that's –“

“Tony,” Steve repeated more insistently, digging his own fingers into the same spot behind his other ear and Tony groaned, hips stuttering forward and – fuck, Steve could feel how hard he was against his thigh –

“God,” he gritted out just before his orgasm hit, thrusting up into Tony's hand as he came all over his fingers. He sucked in a breath when Tony kept squeezing him, milking him for every last drop, distantly aware that he was grabbing Tony's shoulders to keep his balance.

In a few seconds it was over and he opened his eyes to find Tony staring at him with a hunger that made his stomach twist with want.

“Are you –“ Tony started before he paused, looking down at Steve's cock with wide eyes. “Holy shit, you're –“

“Yeah,” Steve sighed, already hard again. He wasn't sure he'd even gone soft in between. “Sorry, is that –“

“No, fuck, don't apologize, this is amazing!” Tony exclaimed and Steve felt his cheeks heat up at the genuine awe in his voice. “I mean, I knew you were fast, but this is crazy!”

Steve bristled. “I wasn't this fast before the serum –“

“It's a compliment,” Tony said quickly, glancing at Steve. “Hey, you mind if I try something?”

Steve shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “Knock yourself out.”

Tony grinned, leaning in to – holy shit, was he going to – but no, he just stepped closer to drop to his knees and –

_Holy shit, Steve had Tony Stark on his knees!_

Steve gasped in a mix of shock and arousal, covering his mouth in embarrassment when Tony grinned filthily up at him.

“I take it this is okay?”

Steve nodded rapidly, taking a shaky breath. “More than – fuck.” His knees almost buckled when Tony leaned in to kiss his inner thigh, only inches from his dick. “Jesus, Tony –“

“Let's see what we can do about this,” Tony said conversationally like he wasn't turning Steve's brain to mush. He grinned rakishly. “Don't worry, I've been told I'm very good with my mouth.”

Tony grabbed Steve's cock at the base to guide it into his mouth all the way until his lips touched his fingers. And well, if Steve still had any doubt that Tony had experience with men that was completely gone by now.

Steve's mind went blank when Tony slowly pulled back, twitching at the sweet drag of his lips along his cock. “Fuck...”

Tony moaned around Steve's cock and Steve looked down to find that he'd closed his eyes, a weirdly desperate expression on his face and –

Fuck, his hand was –

Steve sucked in a breath, tangling a shaky hand in Tony's hair to gently guide him back down. His eyes widened when he saw Tony's shoulder move in tandem. God, he wished they'd done this lying down so Steve could've seen Tony touch himself –

Steve make a strangled noise when Tony started to suck, his tongue moving in a rhythmic pattern all over the length of his dick. His thighs were shaking to the point where he was scared that he wouldn't be able to hold himself up and Tony seemed to notice because he removed his hand from Steve's dick to grab onto his hipbone in an attempt to hold him up. Steve in turn let go of Tony's hair in favor of propping himself up against the counter.

“Fuck,” he breathed and Tony looked up at him, so fucking beautiful with a cock in his mouth, Jesus – “Can – can you go harder?”

Tony's eyes darkened and Steve threw his head back when Tony sucked him so hard he saw stars.

“Oh my God,” he gasped. His cock throbbed when Tony suddenly moaned around him, the sound vibrating all over his sensitive flesh – “Tony!”

Tony hummed and Steve looked back down, he had to see – And Tony was already looking back at him, pupils blown so wide that his eyes were almost entirely black, arm tensed as he squeezed his own cock –

And Steve came so suddenly that his legs almost crumpled underneath him before he caught himself, a strangled moan tearing from his throat. He could feel Tony's mouth contract around him as he swallowed and holy fuck, that was so hot –

“Tony,” he ground out and watched raptly as Tony's eyes rolled back into his head, his body convulsing as he came into his own hand, and Steve hated that he couldn't see, couldn't feel him –

He slipped to the floor as soon as Tony pulled off, chest heaving as he tried to regain his breath. Tony wasn't faring any better, hunched over with his hand still on his cock and Steve had to avert his eyes from the sight of Tony's come on his own fingers for fear of starting another round. God, that was intense.

Eventually Tony moved over to slump against the counter next to Steve and they sat shoulder to shoulder as they both slowly came down.

“So that was fun,” Tony said after a long silence and Steve felt a smile steal its way onto his face.

“Yeah.”

“You know, I've always wanted to blow myself,” Tony said, chuckling to himself. “Now I can give myself the Stark stamp of approval. Once in a lifetime opportunity right there.”

The smile on Steve's face froze. Opportunity?

“I'm probably the only person on this planet who can say that they know for a fact how good they are in bed. Ten outta ten, would fuck again,” Tony said, laughing. He looked over at Steve with a twinkle in his eye. “Isn't that amazi– Steve?”

Steve gave him a crooked grin that felt just a little too wide on his face. “Yeah. Not every day you get to have sex with yourself. Pretty neat.”

He could see genuine concern in Tony's eyes now and Steve couldn't stand it, averting his eyes and pulling up his pants. Tony just kept staring at him as Steve made himself somewhat presentable before he got to his feet. He needed to process all of this in peace.

“Wait, Steve, I – Did I do something wrong?” Tony asked and Steve took a deep breath to keep his voice even.

“No,” he said, giving Tony a small smile. “I'm just tired. Thanks for –“ He gestured between them. “...this.”

Tony blinked and it was like a curtain fell over his eyes, his face turning into that publicity mask Steve hated so much. “Of course. No problem.”

Steve wanted to scream. “Sure. Good night, Tony.”

“Good night, Steve.”

He waited until the elevator doors closed on him before he put his head in his hands, fighting the sinking despair in his gut. What the fuck was he doing? He should've known better than to actually think that Tony was serious about any of this. Just an opportunity to experiment, something that piqued Tony's interest. Nothing more.

Steve let his head thunk back against the wall, staring unseeingly at the ceiling. And he'd thought they were doing so well, finding a middle ground, maybe even becoming friends... And now he'd fucked it up by bringing feelings into the mix when Tony probably just wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Have some fun. Make use of this while it lasted. And after the bond was gone he'd just go back to semi-tolerating Steve.

Steve shook his head. He couldn't put himself through that kind of heartbreak. No matter how much he wanted – and _god,_ he wanted – to go right back to Tony and do it all over again he couldn't let that happen. It wasn't real. And Steve wouldn't be able to take it when Tony inevitably broke things off.

But god, Tony had looked so happy for a moment there in the afterglow, smiling at Steve like this actually mattered, like he – Fuck, it was so unfair. Now Steve knew exactly what it would be like to have Tony like that and he still couldn't have him.

In a sudden surge of anger he slammed his fist into the wall, denting the metal. He pressed his forehead against the cold surface and breathed out heavily.

What a fucking mess.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! We're getting really close to the end now. This one is a bit shorter, setting up for the final chapter in which our two favorite idiots will hopefully finally get their shit together.  
> Anyways, thanks for being patient and I hope you enjoy this one! See you later! :)

Tony brought down the hammer, over and over again with single-minded focus. His shirt was already sticking to his back with sweat, clammy and uncomfortable, but he welcomed it, anything to take his mind off –

Yeah, no. He wasn't dealing with that right now.

He wiped a hand across his brow, grimacing as his traitorous brain circled back to his most recent fuck-up. And he'd been doing so well ignoring it, dammit.

The door to his workshop slid open and Tony sighed, shoulders slumping. “What?”

“Everything okay down here?”

Tony turned to give Clint a disgruntled look. “Is there a reason why you're fucking up my chi right now?”

“Your chi is the least of my concerns,” Clint said before he inexplicably punched Tony in the arm.

“Ow! What the hell?” Tony yelped indignantly.

“That's for not telling me about your thing with Steve,” Clint said, looking at Tony with exaggeratedly hurt eyes. “I had to find out from Hill. _Hill,_ Tony! I thought we were bros!”

Tony frowned, rubbing at his arm. “Bros don't mortally wound each other.”

“Bros don't deny each other the chance to laugh at their expense.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Well, by all means, go ahead.”

“Nah, too easy now,” Clint said, shaking his head with a grin. “No fun if you're expecting it.”

“Then why are you here?”

Clint shrugged. “Just checking in. It's been three days, I thought that was enough time to sulk in your fortress of solitude.”

Tony gave him a dirty look. “Fuck off.”

“Oooh, tough crowd,” Clint whistled and hopped onto a nearby desk, dangling his legs. Tony's eye twitched. “Don't tell me you're not glad to see me. I volunteered to be your human contact for the day.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Human contact?”

Clint put a hand to his chest. “Me Clint, you Tony. You remember how this works, don't you?”

“We gonna hold hands and sing kumbaya?”

Clint sighed. “Seriously, man. You've been holed up here for days. What's eating you?”

“Nothing you can help with.”

“Wanna bet?”

Tony huffed out a frustrated breath. “Just leave it, okay?”

“It's Steve, right? Of course it's Steve. He's gone through more punching bags yesterday than he has all month,” Clint said, sighing at Tony's grimace. “I'm sick of all this angst, man. Can't you just kiss and make up?”

Tony gave him a scathing look. “Stay out of my business, Barton.”

Clint raised his hands in defeat, instead choosing to plop down on Tony's couch, lounging comfortably. “Alright. Let's watch The Notebook and cry into a tub of ice cream. I heard that helps.”

“It doesn't.”

“Not with that attitude it doesn't.”

Tony sighed, but still closed down his project, trudging over to claim the unoccupied side of his couch. “Fine. But after this you'll tell Natasha to shove it.”

“She's not the one who put me up to this.”

Tony hummed. “Bruce?”

Clint opened a bag of chips he had produced seemingly out of nowhere. “Pepper actually.”

Tony gave him a bewildered look. “You talk to Pepper?”

“Sure I do,” Clint said through a mouthful of chips. “Steve, too.”

Tony groaned, letting his head fall back against the couch. “Great. You're conspiring against me in my own home.”

“Don't sound so surprised. She's gotta keep tabs on you somehow.”

“She doesn't. But she does it anyway.” Tony sighed, putting an arm over his face. “You people do realize that I'm a grown man, right?”

“And yet you need a babysitter,” Clint teased, bumping Tony's shoulder with his. “Now shut up and watch the movie.”

Tony hummed, trying to focus as Clint flipped through his movie database, but he drifted off almost immediately. That familiar ache was still sitting in his chest, persistent and all-consuming as ever. If he hadn't sworn off it years ago he'd probably try to drown it in alcohol, but he couldn't do that to Pepper after he'd promised her to stop. No matter how much it hurt.

He could still remember the look on Steve's face as he left, that fake little half smile that he usually only put on for the media. It had felt like a stab in the gut to be on the receiving end of that – that _dismissal_ he remembered so clearly from back when they first met. Tony had really thought they were past that, but apparently he'd found a way to fuck up their tentative truce too. They should make it an olympic sport.

He could also remember the feeling of Steve's cock in his mouth, but that was neither here nor there. It had been the main plot in all of his recent fantasies even though it made him feel like shit afterwards when he inevitably realized that he'd never even come close to the real thing again. No matter what he thought he saw in the heat of the moment Steve clearly didn't want this to last. He was probably counting the days until Strange found a way to break the bond. And who could blame him really. Tony was a dead weight, holding him back from missions. If he were in Steve's shoes he'd want to get rid of himself too.

Tony sighed. He still didn't understand where he went wrong. For a moment there Steve had seemed totally on board, they'd been having a great time. But maybe that was the problem. They were just having a bit of fun, nothing more. Why'd he have to make it weird? Tony should've known better than to try and stick around after. He knew how that sort of thing went, wham, bam, thank you, ma'am. Why had he expected Steve to be different?

“I always wondered about that.”

Clint's voice startled Tony out of his thoughts. He hummed inquiringly.

“The thing with the code,” Clint elaborated, waving at the screen and – when had he put on Matrix? “The whole idea.”

“What about it?”

“Like, is it possible?”

Tony gave him an incredulous look. “Are you kidding me? The setup is complete bullshit, you would have to create a neurological network that functions just like a brain, we don't have that kind of technology.”

“But I thought computers were getting smarter than humans?”

“Oh, for the love of – Clint, _no_ –“ And they were off.

After the movie Clint somehow managed to drag him to the kitchen for beer and sandwiches and then into a bloody death match of Mario Kart – literally bloody, Clint was a cheating asshole with sharp nails. Before Tony knew it the day had gone by and he'd actually enjoyed himself for the first time in days.

“Hey, about those long range arrows,” Tony said when they walked back to the elevator. “I was thinking I could make a variation with grappling hooks. If you're interested.”

Clint gave him a warm smile and clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”

Tony smiled back at him and saluted Clint when he got off on his floor before leaning against the wall with a sigh. He should really give Clint more credit. The guy might be an asshole, but he had always been a great friend. Maybe he'd give that plan for a retractable nano-bow another try.

“Sir? You have a new message that you might want to see.”

Tony rubbed a hand over his face. “High priority? Who's it from?”

“Dr Strange, Sir. He has found a counter spell and is requesting a meeting.”

Well, there it was.

Tony sighed. “Forward the request to Cap, J. I'll make time.”

“Captain Rogers has already received a similar message and proposed a meeting tomorrow at eight.”

Not wasting any time, huh? “Fine. Send Strange the details.”

“Certainly, Sir.”

Tony ate and brushed his teeth in a barely awake state. He didn't bother changing before he fell onto his bed, burying his head in the pillows. Tomorrow this would all be over. Finally some good news. He should be counting the minutes to the meeting.

So why did Tony feel like time was slipping through his fingers?

 

“Alright, you just put your hand here,” Strange said, pulling Ton's wrist until it rested on a weirdly shaped – well, sphere he guessed was the best description he could give. He could've sworn it changed its shape every time he blinked, but that was probably an optical illusion. “And yours here.”

Strange placed Steve's hand on top of Tony's and Tony had to try very hard not to flinch away. He could feel the touch on his hand as well as underneath it in an echo of Steve's perception and grimaced. He couldn't wait for this shit to be over.

Steve had yet to speak directly to him and Tony wasn't really in the mood to initiate any sort of contact after the way they'd parted last time. He didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed that the feeling seemed to be mutual.

“Good. Stay like that.” Strange raised his hand to hover above both of theirs, an orange glow appearing out of thin air. Tony's hand twitched with the urge to pull away, but Steve's hand kept it pressed firmly to the sphere.

The glow transformed into what looked like a rope wrapped around both of their wrists that slowly untangled and then slipped away, dissolving into nothing. The whole thing took maybe five seconds.

“Alright, we're done.”

Tony gave Strange an incredulous look. “That's it?”

Strange nodded, grabbing the sphere and wrapping it back up in a colorful cloth as Tony and Steve pulled their hands away. Tony hated how he missed the touch immediately. “It's not a complicated spell, just a very rare one. I had to ask a few favors to get the right information.” He glanced at Tony with a wry smile. “I'm sure you'll compensate me for my efforts.”

Tony gave him a disgruntled look. “Of course I will. Do I look like a scrooge?”

“Thank you for your time,” Steve said, shaking Strange's hand. Tony flinched when he felt the pressure on his own hand. What the – “I'm sure we'll –“

“I can feel that,” Tony blurted out, pressing a finger to his own palm. “It didn't work, we'll have to –“

“It will take some time for the counter spell to take full effect,” Strange said, raising an eyebrow. “Honestly, Mr Stark, after so many years in the business I would have expected you to know at least the basic principles of magic.”

Tony bristled. “Listen, you fucking –“

“Thank you, doctor,” Steve talked loudly over Tony, glancing at him for a second before he looked back at Strange. Tony gritted his teeth. “You've been a big help.”

Strange nodded at both of them respectively with a curt “Gentlemen” before he gestured towards the portal connecting to Avengers Tower. “I'll see you off now. Pleasure doing business with you.”

Tony snorted, stomping over to the portal even as Steve exchanged some more pleasantries. He stepped through – that never got any less weird – and was almost by the door when Steve called out to him.

“Tony, wait.”

Tony turned back with an annoyed frown on his face. “What?”

“You'll, um.” Steve cleared his throat. “You'll keep me posted about this, right? Tell me when the spell's gone.”

“Of course,” Tony said coolly. “Anything else?”

Steve shrugged, crossing his arms. “No.”

“Alright then.”

Tony waited for a second for Steve to say something, anything really, but when the silence dragged on to the point where it got uncomfortable he cleared his throat and turned away.

“Right. See you then,” he said as he walked away, shoulders stiff. Apparently even the tentative comradery they'd been starting to build between them was gone now. Fantastic. He couldn't wait for Steve to give him the disappointed Cap face every time Tony so much as breathed again.

Tony sighed. One step forward, four steps back. Maybe they were just doomed to continue like that for the rest of their lives. He couldn't deny that it hurt to know that Steve would rather ignore him than figure things out – but then again, maybe Steve didn't think that there was anything to figure out. Wow, that was even more depressing.

Tony took the elevator down, stepping into his lab and immediately getting crowded by DUM-E and U, both frantically beeping at him.

“What? What's –“ Tony's eyes fell on the processor in the back corner and he only froze for a second before he sprinted towards it. “Crap, JARVIS –“

The sprinklers immediately turned on. Tony grabbed the fire extinguisher off the way and hurried to put out the fire. It only took a few seconds and as far as he could see there was minimal damage, but still –

“What the fuck, JARVIS? Why didn't you –“

“I'm sorry, Sir. The fire had only started half a minute before your return and under regular circumstances DUM-E should have been able to handle it.”

Tony turned to his youngest problem child, looking him over for visible damage. “Well, why didn't he?”

“I believe he has a wrench stuck in his right front wheel. U tried to push past him, but as you can see he didn't have the space to move. I was just about to alert you.”

Tony sighed, trudging over to DUM-E to inspect his wheel where – yup, that was a wrench. Fucking idiot.

“Jesus Christ, DUM-E, how many times do I have to tell you not to roll over my tools?”

DUM-E gave a dejected beep as Tony dropped to his knees and pulled the wrench free, giving him a bop on the head with it. “That'll teach you not to –“

“ _Tony!”_

Tony was startled so badly he almost fell over when the door to his workshop suddenly crashed open, a red, white and blue blur jumping through. “What the –“

“Where –“ Steve started to ask frantically before he noticed the smoking processor and Tony's position on the floor, making him pause. He still hurried over to hover anxiously over Tony's body. “What happened? Are you hurt? Is –“

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Tony shouted, holding his hands up. “What the fuck, Steve? What are you doing here?”

“JARVIS said –“

“ _Tony!”_

Tony groaned when Clint came rushing in, his battle face on and bow in hand. “Not you too! What is this, national bother Tony day?”

“JARVIS sent out a fire alarm,” Clint said, eyes falling on the smoke in the back corner. “Wait, that's it? What the fuck, dude? I thought you were in actual danger.”

Tony frowned. “He's not supposed to – oh.” He suddenly remembered. “The Pepper alarm!”

“Pepper?” Steve asked, still looking tense and apprehensive. “What's she got to do with it?”

Tony waved a dismissive hand at him. “Relax. It's just a protocol she installed after the last time I set the workshop on fire. She wanted to be alerted so now JARVIS sets off the fire alarm in the whole tower. I completely forgot about that.”

Clint gave him a weird look. “You start fires often enough that she demanded a _protocol?”_

Tony snorted. “I barely ever singed myself. Honestly, she was overreacting.”

“I don't think she was,” Steve said tersely. “It's dangerous, Tony.”

“Oh lighten up, it's really not. Besides, I always have DUM-E on standby with the fire extinguisher. Isn't that right, buddy?”

DUM-E beeped proudly, brandishing the item in question. He must've picked it up after Tony dropped it.

Steve gave him a disapproving look but before he could say anything Tony cut him off with a flick of his hand. “Don't worry, Cap, I'll take care of it. J, buddy, you can just belay that protocol. It's not like she lives her anymore.”

“No,” Steve snapped. “That's not the point, Tony. JARVIS.” He looked up at the ceiling as he said it and Tony still wasn't over how adorable that was. Dammit. “Keep the protocol active. I want to be informed if Tony sets anything on fire. Including himself.”

“Certainly, Captain Rogers.”

Tony gave him a disgruntled look. “I don't need –“

“Yes, you do need,” Clint said, packing his bow away. Tony glared at him. “Don't make that face, you need all the help you can get, buddy. And I'd rather not find out after the fact if you ever burn yourself to a crisp.”

“Oh come on, I barely even singed my hair –“

“That's not a sentence I ever want to hear out of your mouth again,” Steve said sternly, crossing his arms and inadvertently drawing Tony's eyes to the star on his chest. “You need to start taking better care of yourself or you'll–“

“What's with the suit?”

Steve paused. “What?”

“The stars and stripes,” Tony clarified, gesturing at Steve's body. “I'm guessing you didn't put it on just to save me from a fire.”

Steve flushed, pulling at the fabric. “No, I, uh. I wanted to check for tears.”

“Tears?” Tony asked. “In the fabric? Wait, are there any?”

Steve shrugged. “Not recently. I patched up the other ones, but –“

“Wait wait wait,” Tony interjected, raising his hands. “Are you saying you've been fixing those yourself? With a needle and _thread?”_

Steve looked at him apprehensively, probably hearing the subdued anger in Tony's voice. “Yes?”

“Goddammit, Steve,” Tony groaned, slapping a hand to his forehead. “You can't just – Look, this right here?” He grabbed an edge of Steve's sleeve, rubbing it between his fingers. “That's kevlar reinforced nylon thread. It might look like fabric, but it's not. If there's a tear it needs to be _welded_ shut or it's not gonna hold up against shit!”

Steve cocked his head. “Huh. I didn't know that.”

“Christ,” Tony said in annoyance. “You've been running around with a subpar suit this whole time?”

Steve shrugged, not even looking the least bit chastened. Tony scoffed, standing up and holding out a hand. “Okay. Give it.”

Steve stared at him, utterly bewildered. “What?”

“You heard me. Strip.”

“Aaand that's my cue,” Clint said and wow, Tony had completely forgotten about him. “Call me if you need anything. Or better yet, don't.”

“Wouldn't dream of it,” Tony called after him as he disappeared. He turned back towards Steve, giving him a stern look. “Now give me the suit before I come get it myself. See if I won't.”

Tony could feel his own cheeks heat up in response to Steve's blush before he slowly opened the zipper at the front. “Are you just gonna watch or –“

“Oh,” Tony said, suddenly realizing that he'd been staring before he turned away, rummaging through one of his drawers. “Sorry. I'll find you a shirt.”

“I'm wearing one.”

“Huh?” Tony looked back to watch Steve step out of the suit, revealing a white shirt and sweatpants underneath. “Oh, yeah, that's – convenient. Not sure you'd've fit into one of mine.”

Steve gave him a wry smile, handing the suit to Tony. “Probably not.”

“Right.” Tony nodded, stretching out the fabric and grimacing when he found one of the badly sown seams. “Jesus. How did you survive for this long?”

“My superior dodging skills?”

Tony looked at Steve who looked back at him with that innocent butter-wouldn't-melt face. He couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up in his throat.

“Wow. Who told you that? Clint?”

Steve shrugged with an impish smile. “There might've been Mario Kart involved.”

“Ah,” Tony said and nodded, marching over to his workbench and clearing it with a swipe of his arm. DUM-E would get it. “Alright, come here. I'll show you how to do this.” Tony turned the fabric over, grimacing as he re-opened the stitches with scissors. It was just unnecessary to flirt with death like that. To think that Steve had been in danger this whole time. Just one well-placed knife –

He shuddered. “If I ever catch you sewing up one of my designs again I'll punch you in the face, you got that?”

Steve hummed, stepping closer to look over Tony's shoulder. Too close. _Way_ too close. Tony's whole body tensed as he suddenly became very aware of just how easy it would be to move back just a little, feel Steve's body right there against his –

Fuck, he'd been so distracted by the suit that he'd completely forgotten about their entire situation. Which – Wait, weren't they still ignoring each other? Why was Steve even talking to him?

“Tony?” Steve asked and Tony couldn't bear to let the awkwardness sink back in so he shook himself out of it, reaching for his soldering iron.

“Alright, here's how you do it. You hold it like this, push the seams together with a clamp –“ He demonstrated, trying to sound as impartially professional as possible. “Then you take the iron and weld it shut. Easy as pie.”

Steve nodded, seemingly content to watch Tony's process. Tony internally shrugged, running his fingers over the fabric to look for more seams and possibly new tears. He thought he'd made quick work of it but by the time he was done and looking at the clock he realized he'd taken almost forty minutes. Huh.

Steve seemed to be long gone, so Tony cleaned up in stoic silence, trying not to be disappointed. Which was irrational. Being disappointed would've meant having some sort of expectation in the first place which he certainly –

He almost jumped out of his skin when he turned to see Steve on the couch, apparently doodling something into a small notebook. Not actually gone then. His stomach flipped at the realization that Steve had actually stayed here the whole time. Not that Tony cared of course.

“I'm done,” he announced, holding up the freshly welded suit. “All patched up.”

Steve's head snapped up abruptly as he closed his notebook, a small blush appearing on his cheeks. Which – Tony surprisingly couldn't feel. Spell must be wearing off now. “Oh, uh. Great.”

Tony raised an eyebrow at Steve's lack of enthusiasm which only made Steve's blush deepen as he cleared his throat and stood. “I'll just – get going then.”

Not disappointed. Not disappointed. Not disappointed.

“Sure, you do that,” Tony said nonchalantly, stepping closer to hand Steve the suit. “If you rip it in the future just hand it to me after the fight. I'll take care of it.”

Steve blinked, looking a bit stunned. “Oh, uh. Thanks, that's really nice of you, Tony.”

Tony shrugged, shuffling uncomfortably on his feet. “Well. What's one more thing on the list. Besides,” He gave Steve a wry smile. “I actually prefer your non-stabbed self, so... yeah, glad to help.”

Steve smiled just a little wistfully and Tony had to avert his eyes, running a hand through his hair and grimacing when he could feel the oil he'd smeared in there at some point. Damn, he really needed a –

Huh?

Tony looked up when Steve made a little choked off sound, a question on his lips – and suddenly he could feel it, not nearly as strongly as before, almost faint enough to miss it entirely but –

He froze mid-gesture when he recognized the feeling, eyes widening incredulously. Steve just stared back at him, a look in his eyes like he was regretting his entire existence.

“I'm sorry, I –“ Steve stammered but his eyes darted down for a second and Tony followed his gaze to where his tank top had ridden low, exposing some of his chest and the smears of oil and dust on his biceps which he knew from experience were one of his better features. He looked back up, eyebrows all but disappearing into his hairline.

“Really?”

Steve's face was so red that Tony half expected to feel it through the bond but he didn't. Just how aroused was Steve then that Tony could actually still tell?

“Sorry,” Steve said stiffly, clutching the suit tighter in his hands. “I'll just –“

“You want a hand with that?”

Steve froze, an uncomfortable silence settling over them. Tony felt nervous sweat tickling the nape of his neck from the tension. What the fuck was he thinking, asking that? He should really just staple his mouth shut –

“No, thank you,” Steve said tersely and Tony very carefully controlled his expression even as the rejection hit him like a punch in the stomach. He hadn't even realized that he'd held out actual hope for Steve to take him up on it before it got crushed under his feet.

But he had. And it hurt. A lot.

“Sure, no problem,” he said tonelessly, turning back to his workbench. “If that's all, you know where the door is.”

He could hear Steve shuffling his feet for a second before he left the workshop in quick strides, closing the door behind him. As soon as he was gone Tony allowed his shoulders to sag, propping himself up on the table with both hands. Well, if he'd needed any confirmation that Steve wasn't interested then this was it, wasn't it? At least he knew now.

Tony almost wanted to laugh. He'd always loved to prove people wrong when they said something was impossible, but Captain America and Tony Stark? What a fucking joke. Even if Steve hadn't blown him off just now they would never work out. Tony should know better than to go after things he couldn't have.

He took a deep breath, pushing himself back to his feet. No use crying over spilt milk. He'd had his one moment with Steve. That was already more than he could've ever hoped for. It would have to be enough.

Tony picked up a blow torch and pulled up Natasha's widow bite specs. He was sure he'd find something that needed fixing.

Something always needed fixing.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last one, guys :) I hope you enjoy it!

Steve woke with a start, sitting upright in seconds. It took him a moment to identify the blaring alarm as the Avengers call to assemble but when he did he was up in a flash, running to his closet to change into the uniform.

“JARVIS, what's the –“ He paused. “JARVIS? Why am I assembling? I'm benched.”

“Not anymore, it seems,” JARVIS said, displaying a short message on a nearby screen. Steve squinted, leaning closer to read it.

_**Bond's gone. - T. (sent at 3:42am)** _

That was all it said. Steve sighed, feeling a familiar heaviness settle in his heart. That should've been good news, right? He couldn't hurt Tony anymore, he'd be able to go on missions aga– _The mission!_

He snapped back to the situation at hand, leaving Steve Rogers and all of the emotional mess behind for the moment. The team needed their Captain right now.

“Alright, what's going on?” Steve asked as he finished buckling up his suit, grabbing his shield on the way out the door.

Instead of answering JARVIS displayed a live feed on the elevator walls as Steve pushed the button to the roof where a quinjet was probably already waiting for him. Doom had apparently decided to try his luck at world domination again, thousands of robots were already wreaking havoc in Manhattan. It was probably a Thursday.

Steve fumbled his earpiece in just in time to hear Clint say “I don't care how good they are, I'm not gonna suck your dick, Stark.”

Steve sighed. Why was he on this team again?

“This is Captain America checking in. What's our ETD?”

“Oh hey, Cap,” Clint said cheerfully, the sound of engines coming through on his end. “ETD five minutes, get your ass up here. The Fantastic Four are on the scene already, we don't want them to steal our thunder.”

“Concentrate,” Steve admonished him as he finally arrived on the roof, pushing the door open to sprint towards the quinjet. “We need to find Doom and neutralize him.”

“Neutralize?” Clint asked grouchily. Steve boarded the jet just as Clint wrinkled his nose at the word. “What are we, the CIA?”

“More like vigilantes,” Tony drawled and Steve's gut lurched at the sound of his voice in his ear. He pushed down the lingering guilt he felt, concentrating on the mission. This wasn't the time.

“Iron Man, what's the situation?”

Tony paused for a moment before he replied. “I'm near the Baxter building. There's a good chunk of it missing and what looks like a portal inside. Doom must've hijacked their tech. Looks like the robots are coming from there too.”

“How many?” Steve asked, nodding at Bruce when he arrived, still fumbling his comm into his ear. Natasha was only a step behind, checking her gear as she hurried inside.

“Must be hundreds. They – shit!”

“What's going on?” Steve snapped, gripping his shield harder. “Iron Man!”

“Fuck, okay. Just a heads up, they self-destruct if you get too close. Short range explosives.”

Steve breathed out heavily. Clint gave Steve a thumbs up and started the jet, taking off at breakneck speed. “We're on our way.”

Tony grunted in reply and Steve could hear something blow up on his end. Somewhere in the back Johnny was shouting “Flame on!”

“What a fucking loser,” Tony grumbled and Steve couldn't suppress a smile.

“You're just sore 'cause he saved your ass last time,” Clint drawled. They could already see the Baxter building in the distance and, well, 'a good chunk missing' was a way to put it. The building looked like someone had taken a bite out of it.

Tony scoffed. “Please. He crashed into me on accident. If you call that saving someone I'll make sure to save _you_ the next time you fall off a roof.”

“I don't fall. I make strategic retreats.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“Chatter,” Steve reminded them, putting his shield onto his back as Clint opened the jet's hatch. Twenty seconds to drop. “Widow, I want you to find the portal and shut it down. Hawkeye, cover her. Bruce, take the other guy down to the streets. You know what to do.”

“Aye aye, Cap,” Clint said. “Prepare for landing.”

“Not necessary.” Steve narrowed his eyes at the hatch, waiting for the right moment – there.

He took a running start and jumped into the open air, dropping the last fifty feet on top of a skyscraper and rolling to stop his momentum. He ended on his feet, throwing his shield into the oncoming barrage of robots without missing a beat.

“Showoff,” Clint said and Steve smirked.

“No need to slow you down.”

He jumped down to the next roof, tackling one of the robots out of the air and dispatching it with a solid hit. “Iron Man, stay high. We need the air support.”

“Gotcha.”

“Widow, how's it looking in there?”

He could hear the whine of the quinjet powering down over her comms as she apparently took in the surroundings. “We found the portal. Richards is already working on it though. We'll join you in a bit.”

“Good. Any sign of Doom?”

“I can't pick up anything on my sensors,” Tony said, a bit of frustration tinting his voice. “If he's here he's managed to hide himself from JARVIS.”

Well, that wasn't good. “Keep looking.”

“Will do.”

Steve finally dropped down into the fray, right in the middle of a whole gaggle of robots. He went in hard, taking them down with single minded focus, punch, dodge, swipe, repeat –

A blast of fire took out a whole bunch of robots to his left before a body dropped to the ground next to him.

“Cap! Nice of you to show up!”

Steve smiled tersely. “Good to see you, Torch. How are we doing?”

Johnny smirked. “Not bad at all. Though we could do with a bit more intel.” He nodded at the sky. “Doom's not showed his face yet.”

“What's his play?”

“Oh, you know,” Johnny said, waving him off. “Just paying a visit. We've been telling him that he's not welcome, but the guy can't take a hint.”

“Pity,” Steve deadpanned and Johnny laughed.

“Alright, I'll leave you to it. Gonna check on Ben, that guy is useless without me. See ya!”

He blasted off and Steve watched him go before he went back to work.

“I hate that guy,” Tony grumbled into the comm and Steve sighed.

“He's on our side. And he means well.”

“Wow, try that with a little more conviction next time.”

Steve was about to retort when something crashed into his side with enough force to knock the wind out of him. He tried to roll out from underneath but the robot had him pinned good and another one was hovering above, holding – oh. That was not good.

“Uh, little help here –“

He blocked the spear just barely, trying to push the robot back with his shield, but before he could it opened its face – if you could call it that – revealing a glowing barrel and – shit, Steve wouldn't be able to defend himself –

A furious roar sounded a moment before the robot was lifted off him and tossed smack dab into the other one. They both exploded and Steve got back to his feet, giving the Hulk a grateful nod.

“Thanks.”

The Hulk huffed, taking off down the street and smacking robots out of the air left and right. Steve picked up his shield and joined him right in the thick of the battle. They found a rhythm, protecting each others' backs as the oncoming forces slowly dwindled. It could've been minutes, could've been hours, but eventually the robots stopped seemingly multiplying out of nowhere, thank god.

“The portal's closed,” Natasha said. She was breathing heavily. “Reed's on his way. He says he's got a device to find Doom.“

“Well that would've been helpful twenty minute ago,” Tony said crossly. “He couldn't have dug it out of the box a bit sooner?”

“At least he _has_ a plan, unlike –“

“Uh, guys?” Clint sounded nervous enough to draw everyone's attention. “There's some sort of signal coming from the portal. It's –“

Clint's voice was drowned out by the sudden beeping all around them. Steve whipped around to see red lights flashing on the robot corpses, getting faster and faster until –

“Get down!” he screamed, barely making it behind a car before the street went off in a massive explosion, slamming him through the wall of a building. His head was still ringing when the structure above him groaned alarmingly, bits of plaster raining down on him.

“Cap! Get out of there!”

Steve struggled to his knees, trying not to throw up at the pain in his head, but before he could get any further the ceiling collapsed on top of him, trapping him under a heap of rubble.

“ _Cap!”_

He grunted when something hit him hard in the shoulder, pinning him flat to the floor, and then there was pressure, on his chest, his legs, his – everything.

Steve tried to keep breathing, but he was sucking more dust than air into his lungs, ending in a painful coughing fit. It took several seconds for his head to stop spinning enough for him to get his bearings. He felt around as best he could, gritting his teeth against the pain in his limbs.

There was a pillar right above him that had apparently born most of the weight and prevented the rest of the rubble from crushing him completely. Some huge metal structure had come down right beside him. A few centimeters to the left and Steve's head would've been mush. Jesus.

“Hulk! Fuck, get out of my way!”

“Tony, stop! The building's not safe!”

“Of course it's not safe, it just _buried_ Cap, we have to –“

“Stop,” Steve coughed, his voice a mere rasp from all the dust in the air. “I'm fine. Get to Doom, you can dig me out later.”

“Like _hell_ I –“

“Stark! You heard the Captain. Hulk will move the rubble and you and I are going to find that son of a bitch now, do you understand? Move it!”

Thank god for Clint. Steve smiled.

“Fine. Steve? You better not die while we're gone!”

“Wouldn't dream of it, shellhead,” he said weakly, wincing as the rubble shifted above him. Hulk better hurry, this whole thing didn't seem entirely stable. “Go get that bastard.”

“Language,” Tony quipped but he still sounded worried. Steve could just barely make out the sound of repulsors as Tony took off, probably with Clint in tow. He sighed. This was going to suck.

He could hear it now, the creaking of the structure above him and – Steve yelped when the rubble shifted, pressing down just a little more on his chest. “Wait! Don't –“

There were sounds of a brief scuffle and then a familiar voice in Steve's ear. Their field medic. “Captain Rogers. We'll have to analyze the remaining structure of the building before we can get you out. Please hang tight.”

“It's not like I have anywhere else to go,” Steve joked lamely, licking his dry lips and grimacing at the dusty taste. “Thank you, Sir.”

It took the better part of an hour before SHIELD's rescue team had secured the building enough to ensure the rest of it wouldn't come tumbling down when the Hulk started digging. After that it was a piece of cake to get Steve out and by then the serum had done a bang up job of fixing most of his contusions and that annoying concussion. Steve walked out on his own two legs, only limping a little when an hour ago he'd been pretty sure his leg was broken. In moments like this he could've kissed Erskine.

He was immediately whisked away by Bruce who didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that he was only wrapped in a SHIELD issued blanket. Being part of the Avengers had completely annihilated his sense of modesty.

“Anything broken? How's your head?” Bruce asked, not waiting for an answer before he started poking and prodding his way up Steve's ribcage. Steve sighed, letting him do his thing.

“Serum took care of it. I'm fine, just a little banged up.” He looked around, noting the absence of the rest of the team. “Where are the others? Everything okay?”

Bruce grimaced. “Decontamination. Doom tested a new weapon. Some kind of acid.”

“Oh hell,” Steve said in alarm. “Did anyone get hurt?”

“No, they're fine,” Bruce said absently, finishing his examination with a satisfied nod. “Alright. A couple hours of bedrest and you should be fine.” He gave Steve a stern look. “You were really lucky but this was still a close call. I swear to god if you start getting reckless on me I'll go green and sit on you. I get enough of that from Tony.”

Steve wanted to protest but Bruce perked up suddenly, averting his eyes and putting a hand to his ear. Then he snorted. “No, I don't want to hear that from you. Yeah, he's alright. We're at the SHIELD van. Nope, not going anywhere. Alright then.” He shut off the comm with a click, giving Steve an amused look. “Sounds like you're in trouble.”

Steve frowned. “What?”

“You've got incoming.”

Before Steve could ask what the hell Bruce meant he heard repulsors whining in the distance, coming closer rapidly. A second later Tony landed hard on the ground a few meters away, making a beeline towards Steve.

“You!” Tony's faceplate snapped up to reveal his furious expression. “What the hell, Steve, why are you _standing?_ Where's the medic? Did you check him over, Bruce?”

“Obviously,” Bruce deadpanned but Tony reached out anyway, retracting his gauntlets to run his hands all over Steve, laser focused on every pained wince Steve couldn't hide.

“Sorry,” Tony mumbled but didn't stop in his investigation and – whoa that was really close, what the –

“Uh,” Steve swallowed down the lump in his throat. “It's fine, Tony, Bruce already –“

“I don't care.” And now Tony was glaring at him, hands still on Steve's waist and that was very distracting – “What the hell were you thinking? I _told_ you to get out but no! Captain America just can't fucking help himself!”

Steve barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Look, I –“

“JARVIS fucking scanned the building. A few inches, Steve! A few inches and that support beam would have crushed you. You could be _dead_ right now, Jesus, what the hell were you thinking?”

Steve bristled. “Well, it's not like I _wanted_ –“

“No one _wants_ to get hurt. You're supposed to protect yourself so that doesn't happen!”

“Well I tried,” Steve said indignantly. “I couldn't get out of the way in time.”

“Then _try harder!”_ Tony snapped and Steve suddenly noticed that Tony's hands were shaking where he was grabbing Steve. “You can lift a truck, you can damn well escape a collapsing building, you fucking idiot!”

“Tony,” Bruce admonished and Tony jerked away from Steve, breathing heavily.

“Just – take it easy,” Tony said kind of lamely, not looking Steve in the eye before he put down the faceplate and took off. Steve looked after him, rendered speechless by what just happened. Tony was really worried about him. Sure, he had a strange – slightly offensive – way of showing it, but – What the hell?

“Did something happen between you two?” Bruce asked and Steve gave him a questioning look. “It's just, I've never seen him so worked up. He's never lost his cool like that before.”

“I don't know,” Steve admitted, running a hand over his face. “We're not – technically on speaking terms right now.”

Bruce narrowed his eyes. “You fought?”

Steve sighed. “We always fight, Bruce.”

Bruce hummed, putting his hands on his hips as he looked around the battlefield. In the distance Steve could see Clint and Natasha coming out of the decontamination van, hair still dripping wet and probably ribbing each other about something. It made something in his chest contract. He wanted to have that with Tony so badly but it seemed that every time they took a step towards it they managed to fuck it up again.

But Tony worried about him, more so than anyone else on the team. Steve didn't really know what to do with that.

“He likes you, you know?”

Steve looked at Bruce in surprise. “What?”

“I know he has a weird way of showing it,” Bruce said, a little cautiously. “But he really does care. About all of us. But he never loses his shit about the rest of the team or screams at their doctors or brings us food when we're down. That's just you.”

Steve swallowed heavily, trying not to give the fluttering hope in his heart too much fodder. It was hard to reign it in though. “You think?”

Bruce gave him a scrutinizing look before his eyebrow raised as he smiled. “It's like that, huh?”

Steve automatically wanted to dismiss the notion but something about Tony's eyes, the way he'd looked at Steve, as if he was _afraid –_

“Yeah,” he said softly. “Maybe it is.”

 

Tony wasn't hiding. He was a grown fucking man and he had work to do that incidentally prevented him from spending any of his time outside of the workshop. Pepper could shove it.

“Tony,” she sighed over the speakers and Tony grimaced. He'd wanted to block her call but JARVIS had patched her through anyway. Traitor. “It's an important fundraiser. You have to at least make an appearance.”

“No, I don't,” he said curtly, fastening a metal plate to the bottom of his bugatti. He'd tuned it just a little – still street safe, at least by most standards – but the attachment was giving him trouble. “I'll write them a cheque and they'll be happy. Anything else?”

He could practically feel her radiate disapproval. “What are you – Tony, that car is vintage! Why are you tuning it?”

Tony grunted. “JARVIS, I told you not to give her the camera feed.”

“I'm sorry, Sir. You have not revoked Mrs Potts' access codes.”

Pepper's face appeared on one of the monitors to the left and Tony sighed, sliding a little further under the car. She frowned. “You said you had important work to do.”

“This is important,” he protested weakly, but her glare silenced him. “Come on, Pep. I really don't think they'd miss me if I didn't show up. Higgins hates me anyway.”

“Well he still asked specifically for you,” she said pointedly. “And he's an important client, Tony. We can't lose him.”

“As if he could afford to stop doing business with us,” Tony scoffed, rolling his eyes. “His people can't tell an RX filter from a fucking toaster.”

“Whatever,” Pepper sighed. “I'll send a car to pick you up at nine and you better be ready or I swear to god I will sic JARVIS on you.”

“You can't use my own AI against me. Right, J?” Silence. “JARVIS?” Tony asked, a little panicked when Pepper chuckled. “No! That's not fair! He's mine!”

“And he wants what's best for you.” She paused. “And the company.”

Tony groaned. “You're an evil woman.”

“Love you too,” she said with a pleasant smile. It sent shivers down Tony's spine. “Nine o'clock. Don't be late.”

With that her picture winked out on the monitor and Tony gave the ceiling a betrayed look. “I raised you better than this. You're not supposed to switch loyalties.”

“I only have your best interests at heart, Sir.”

Tony sighed dramatically. “Betrayed by my own creation. I'm developing a god complex. If you ever go Skynet on me I swear to god –“

“I don't mean to interrupt your existential crisis, Sir.” God, Tony must've been drunk when he programmed all that sass into his bots. “But Captain Rogers is requesting entry to the workshop.”

Tony paused. “What?”

“Captain Rogers is at the door, Sir. Should I let him in?”

Tony hesitated for a long moment, twirling the screwdriver in his hand. “No,” he said eventually, picking up another screw to secure the plate. “Tell him to leave a message if it's urgent.”

“Very well, Sir.”

He breathed out slowly, trying not to get distracted by the sudden lump in his throat. What the hell could Steve possibly want? Tony had finished all of the repairs and JARVIS would've alerted him if there was a crisis. He hadn't even left the workshop for the past twenty hours after the fight.

“Sir? Captain Rogers wants me to inform you that he comes bearing coffee and donuts.”

Tony's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. “What?”

“He believes that you should eat something, even if – and I quote – 'it is pure sugar'.”

Tony let his hand sink as he processed that. “Yeah, okay. Let him in.”

The door swished open and Tony picked up more screws, determined not to show his nervousness. “Thanks for the coffee, Cap. Just leave it on the bench over there, I'll have it later.”

“Oh, uh. Okay.” Tony could hear Steve's heavy footsteps as he did what Tony asked. But instead of a quick retreat like Tony had hoped Steve seemed to be shuffling his feet, decidedly not leaving. Tony sighed, putting down the screwdriver.

“What is it?”

“Can we talk?”

Straight to the point, huh? Tony rolled out from under the car, taking a dirty towel to wipe the worst of the grease from his face.

“Alright. Talk.” He forced himself to look at Steve and his heart sunk at the uncomfortable expression on Steve's face. Oh god, if Steve had somehow found out –

“I'm sorry.”

Tony blinked. “What?”

Steve gestured at his body and Tony – against his better judgement – followed it with his eyes, taking in the bandages and – fuck, why couldn't Steve ever were shirts in his own size? Seriously, it was almost obscene. “I'm sorry for, you know. Worrying you.”

Tony frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You were really upset,” Steve said and Tony gritted his teeth, averting his eyes because he couldn't deny it. He really had been. Steve sighed. “Look, I know we haven't – talked, really, about the whole bond thing and I think it's high time we did. We –”

“What's there to talk about?” Tony asked coolly. “It's over. And I think we can both agree that it's best if we just forget what happened.”

Steve's jaw tightened. “No. We can't just let it go, Tony. We –“

“Is this about the blowjob?” Tony asked and Steve winced. “Oh, fuck you, Rogers. You want to talk about it you can fucking acknowledge that I sucked you off.”

“You don't have to make it sound so –“ Steve broke off, his face tight. “Fine. Yes, this is about the sex. I know that it isn't a big deal today, but to me –“

“Oh, come off it, Rogers,” Tony interrupted him, anger and hurt twisting in his gut. He hoped Steve couldn't hear it. “You're a big boy, you could've said no if you wanted to. If you regret it now that's your problem, not mine.” 

He'd expected a snarky comeback, but Steve was silent. Tony looked up warily and his breath caught in his throat at the look in Steve's eyes. He looked – well, he looked like Tony had just punched him in the gut.

“Steve –“ Tony said, concerned, but Steve raised a hand, turning away and running a hand over his face. Tony gave him a moment, his skin crawling with anxiety with every second that passed. Steve paced back and forth a few times before he looked back at Tony, his eyes full of some emotion Tony couldn't place.

“I don't want –“ Steve huffed in frustration, one hand still in his hair. “I don't know what you want from me, Tony. One moment it seems like you care and then – I don't know, you –“ He took a deep breath, his eyes hard as he looked at Tony. “Just tell me to leave you alone if that's what you want because I can't deal with this anymore. I don't want to keep guessing if you're going to even tolerate my presence every time we talk. I – just, tell me. What do you want?”

Tony was struck silent, his head reeling as he tried to make sense of Steve's words. Why would Steve care what Tony thought of him, it didn't make any sense –

“I –“ He swallowed heavily. “I don't know what you –“

“Stop it,” Steve barked and Tony could only stare at him with wide eyes. “You always do this. I try to talk to you, to clear the air, and you shut me out. And it's weird, sometimes we talk and I think hey, we could actually be friends, and the next day you're back to ignoring me. You can't keep doing this, Tony, it's not fair to me.”

Tony felt a crippling sense of shame as Steve's words hit home. He was right, Tony had been confused for weeks now, pushing Steve away and wanting him closer at the same time. That probably resulted in some pretty mixed signals. But then what did Steve want? To be left alone? But that couldn't be it, Steve had sought him out here after all. Did he want Tony's friendship? His counsel? What?

“I don't know, Steve,” he said hesitantly. “I – I'm sorry, I know I've been shitty to you but this whole situation was fucked up and then the whole sex thing which you obviously didn't want – I mean, the blowjob, that seemed like a good idea, but I shouldn't have offered, I know that, I just – I have poor impulse control and I couldn't help myself and I thought you'd like it too because, well, who turns down a free blowjob – but maybe I was right and you were just horny because you couldn't jerk off the week before and I shouldn't have presumed –“

“Wait,” Steve cut off Tony's babbling and thank god for that, where had he even been going with that? “What are you talking about?”

Tony tilted his head. “Um. The blowjob?”

“No, the –“ Steve waved his hand in a vague gesture. “What do you mean I didn't want it?”

Tony blinked. “What?”

Steve looked at him like he'd grown a second head. “I – of course I wanted it, Tony, what the hell?”

“Yeah, in the moment,” Tony said, just a little bitter and oops, he probably shouldn't sound so disappointed. “But that's fine, it's not like I – well, I shouldn't have anyway, you never gave me any reason to believe that you would –“

“Hold on,” Steve said, raising his hands, and his eyes were suddenly very wide. “Full sentences. What did you think was going on?”

Tony fidgeted uncomfortably before he shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “We got our rocks off and you left.”

Steve flinched, but his eyes were still weirdly focused on Tony. “No, I mean. What do you think I was thinking back then?”

Tony frowned. “What are you, Dr Phil?”

“Please, Tony,” Steve said almost pleadingly. “This is important.”

Tony swallowed the lump in his throat. “Fine. You wanted to have some fun and you got it. I don't know what you want me to say.” Steve made a choked noise and Tony narrowed his eyes. “What?”

“That's not – I thought you were only experimenting. Because of the bond.”

Tony's blood ran cold. “What?”

“Like –“ Steve visibly grasped for words. “You – I thought you just wanted to see what it was like. Having sex with yourself. And – I mean, you said it was an opportunity!”

“What?” Tony started to sound like a broken record but he couldn't form a sentence beyond that. What the actual fuck?

“I thought _you_ just wanted to have some fun,” Steve said miserably and Tony had to remind himself to breathe. What the hell was going on? “I left because you made it seem – I mean, you probably did and that's fine, I just wanted to – I didn't say yes just because I wanted to get off, Tony.”

Tony felt completely numb. “Then why did you?”

Steve took a deep breath. “I like you, Tony.”

What.

“I thought you were attractive even before all of this,” Steve said and Tony could barely hear him over the ringing in his ears. “But you... You're so much more than that. You care so much about the team and you always call me out when I'm being stubborn and you're passionate and kind –“ Steve's cheeks were getting redder by the second but he just kept going and Tony didn't know how to stop him – “And I never thought I'd say this but the last few weeks made me think that we got closer than before and I loved that, I love spending time with you and when you offered to – _do that,_ in the kitchen, I thought –“ He finally seemed to snap out of it, shaking his head and giving Tony a rueful smile. “I know you probably don't feel that way and that's fine, just. I wanted you to know. Maybe we could try to be friends?” Steve actually held out a hand to Tony, a miserably hopeful look in his eyes. “I'd really like to start over.”

Tony was stumped. He was vaguely aware that the silence between them was dragging on too long but his mouth just didn't want to form words. Eventually Steve let his hand sink and he – oh shit, he looked sad now, no no no –

“Okay. I think I'll just –“ Steve gestured at the door and was halfway out of the room by the time Tony managed to shake himself out of it.

“Wait!” he shouted hoarsely and he practically fell over his feet to hold Steve back, grabbing his wrist in a vice grip. “You – are you saying – what are you saying?”

Steve turned back to him and something in Tony's face seemed to reassure him because he sounded almost hopeful when he spoke. “I want to take you out. Properly. And –“ He cleared his throat self-consciously. “Well, if you want, we can just... see where this goes from there. I'd like that.”

Tony gaped at Steve, feeling like the world was tilting around him. Steve started to look a little concerned.

“Are you – whoa!”

Without hesitation Tony grabbed Steve's neck to haul him down for a forceful kiss. Steve made a startled noise and Tony used his confusion to push him back just enough to crowd him against the closest desk, stepping between his legs.

“Wait,” Steve gasped and Tony looked up at him, taking in his flushed cheeks and already swollen lips. Steve audibly gulped. “Should we – I want –“

“Okay, listen,” Tony said. “I just found out that you like me and I'm pretty sure I've been half in love with you ever since I was a teenager so I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me ravage you now.”  
Steve's eyes went wide but he still looked unsure so Tony forced himself to slow down, putting a bit of distance between them. “If you want to take it slow I don't mind, I can do slow, but I think we went about this ass backwards anyway and I really want to make you come again, so if you – _mpfh_ –“

His groan was stifled against Steve's mouth when the soldier picked him up – just _picked him up,_ holy hell – and marched them over to the couch where he sat down with Tony in his lap, never stopping the kiss. If Tony didn't know exactly what a heart attack felt like he'd say that Steve was killing him right now.

He shifted closer, making Steve hiss and grab his hips tight enough to leave bruises when Tony incidentally ground down against his hard dick. Before Tony could use that to his advantage Steve flipped them sideways so Tony was flat on the couch with Steve between his legs. Well, that escalated quickly. Not that he was complaining.

He pulled Steve closer with one hand twisted in his hair, wrapping his legs around Steve's hips to fit them against each other. Steve made a slightly desperate noise, rutting against Tony as if on instinct and – oh hell yeah –

“God,” Tony moaned, meeting Steve's thrusts as the soldier set a fast rhythm. “Holy shit, Steve –“

“I won't last long,” Steve panted, burying his red face in Tony's neck. “I can't – Tony –“

Tony grabbed Steve's shoulders tightly, pulling him even closer, not close enough – “I don't care. Come on –“

Steve shuddered above him, tensing for a second before he let out an obscene moan, hips still jerking forward. Tony stared at the ceiling, giving himself a moment to process that because holy shit, that was the sexiest thing he'd ever been a part of and they both still had all of their clothes on.

“Tony, I want –“ Steve slurred, still sounding a bit woozy from his orgasm, but Tony could feel him wriggling a hand between their bodies to –

“Fuck,” Tony breathed, pushing his hips up as Steve started opening his zipper. He reached out to grab Steve's pants and yank them off impatiently. “Yes, please. Hurry up.”

They undressed each other quickly, only taking the time to ogle when they were both completely naked. Tony let his eyes linger hungrily on Steve's cock which was already back to half mast. Nice.

“Can I –“ Steve licked his lips, gesturing at Tony's hard cock, and Tony smirked teasingly.

“Go for it.”

Steve took a deep breath before he wrapped his hand around Tony, giving him a firm stroke. Tony's hips pushed into the touch of their own accord and he grabbed the back of the couch for support. Jesus.

“I...” Steve paused and Tony looked up to see his dark eyes and nervously furrowed brow. “Sorry, I've never –“

“It's fine,” Tony quickly reassured him, moving his hips to hopefully get Steve moving again because god, the pressure in his cock was intense. “Just do what you do to yourself. I mean,” he chuckled. “We both already know I like that.”

Steve made a small noise, looking at Tony with wide eyes, and Tony couldn't help but laugh quietly, pulling Steve closer for a kiss before he whispered in his ear.

“You made me come so hard, Steve. You can do it again, can't you?”

Steve's breathing hitched but before Tony could even feel proud of that reaction Steve had grabbed him by the waist to shove him up the couch, the friction of the fabric against his back making Tony hiss. He'd barely gotten used to the new position when he suddenly felt Steve's breath on his stomach.

“Oh my god,” he breathed, staring at Steve who was goddamn _nuzzling_ his hip bone, a barely noticeable flush on his cheeks. It turned a much darker red when he noticed Tony's eyes on him, but to Tony's utter delight Steve didn't shy away from the eye contact. Instead he smiled impishly, grabbing Tony's cock and grinning widely when it made Tony's hips jump.

“Can I?”

Tony breathed out heavily. “Is that a trick question?”

Steve's grin widened and he pressed a kiss to Tony's thigh that made Tony's breathing hitch for an entirely different reason. He felt unmoored by the gentle look in Steve's eyes, his heart beating fast and hard.

“Steve,” he said without really knowing what he meant by it but Steve seemed to understand, his eyes softening almost impossibly.

“Let me take care of you,” he said and Tony took a shaky breath, nodding wordlessly.

His eyes closed when Steve took him into his mouth, reveling in the heat and pressure. Steve took his time going down, clumsily licking at him in a mimicry of what Tony had done to him before. It was a tease, albeit an unintended one, and Tony had to use every ounce of his concentration to not thrust into Steve's mouth. He groaned when Steve pulled off again, the drag of his slightly chapped lips along his cock just the right side of rough.

“Fuck,” he breathed, gently tangling his fingers into Steve's hair and watching as Steve's eyes fluttered shut. “That's good.”

Steve seemed to glow at the praise, getting into a slow rhythm, too slow to really get Tony anywhere close to coming but it still felt divine, almost humbling to have Steve do this for him. Tony relaxed back into the couch, enjoying the sensations –

His eyes snapped open when Steve suddenly sucked hard, making his hips twitch forward before he could control the reaction. “Fuck!”

Steve hummed in surprise and it couldn't have been on purpose but the vibrations sent a bolt of heat into Tony's gut, making him grit his teeth.

“Fuck, Steve, keep – _oh,_ ” he moaned loudly when Steve took him down, a lot further than before, and sucked harshly on the way up. “Oh my god, yeah, just like that –“

Steve picked up the pace, bobbing his head in a way that really shouldn't be possible for a first time blowjob and through the sensations that sent his head reeling Tony suddenly realized that it was because Steve didn't really need to breathe, could just suck him continuously for _minutes_ because of the serum –

His stomach drew tight and he was suddenly there, right there on the edge – “Steve, I'm gonna – oh, _fuck!”_

He shouted when Steve sucked him harder, spurred on by Tony's reaction and it was all too much, he was gonna – Tony pulled Steve off just in time, grabbing his cock and angling it up so he came all over his own stomach, hips jerking into his own fist to ride it out.

“Oh, shit,” he sighed when he was done, panting for breath as he looked at Steve – who was staring at him with hooded eyes and a hand between his – wait.

Tony looked down at the couch where the evidence of Steve's orgasm was seeping into the fabric and back at Steve's bright red face, completely incredulous. “Did you –“

“You looked –“ Steve cut himself off, groaning in embarrassment and burying his face in Tony's stomach. “Shut up.”

Tony couldn't help the huge grin spreading over his face. “Just from watching?”

“Shut up,” Steve grumbled again, his shoulders tense. Tony reached down to massage them gently, chuckling under his breath.

“No I won't. That's a huge compliment, are you kidding me?” Steve glared up at him and Tony pulled him closer for a kiss, stroking a hand across his back. “Seriously. It's no big deal.”

Steve seemed to relax a little at that but he still looked disgruntled. “I didn't mean to. You just – you looked really –“

“Yeah?” Tony asked cheekily when Steve trailed off. “No, go on. Tell me how sexy I am when I'm coming all over myself –“

“Stop,” Steve groaned but he sounded amused now, swatting at Tony's hip. “You caught me off guard, okay? It won't happen again.”

“Is that a challenge?” Tony quipped and Steve rolled his eyes.

“Don't make it one.”

Tony chuckled, feeling almost high on the happiness that filled his heart. Steve Rogers wanted to try being with him. Tony had no idea how but he was more than grateful for the chance. He never would've thought he could actually have this.

“Hey,” Steve said and Tony looked up at him, feeling like the air got punched out of him at Steve's adoring smile.

“Hey,” Tony replied and they just grinned at each other goofily, oh my god, what the fuck, how was this even real? “You wanna get some pizza later?”

“Hey, no,” Steve protested and playfully punched Tony in the shoulder. “I said I want to ask _you_ out.”

“Oh no, we're not doing the whole 'you hang up' 'no, you hang up' thing,” Tony said firmly but he couldn't stay strong in the face of Steve's pout. “Okay, fine. Ask me.”

Steve lifted himself up to his elbows, looking far too serious despite the smile still pulling at his lips. “Tony Stark,” he said solemnly. “Will you do me the honor of going to dinner with me?”

Tony tapped his lip, putting on his best thinking face. “Hm, I don't know. Might have to shuffle a few things around, but –“ He squawked when Steve poked him in the ribs, rolling his eyes with a grin. “Fine. Of course I'll have dinner with you.”

Steve's smile was so bright that Tony had to look away, pulling him closer to bury his face in Steve's shoulder. It should've probably been more awkward, lying there naked in the workshop not even half an hour after they'd cleared the air between them, but it really wasn't. Though maybe that shouldn't be surprising. If Tony was honest with himself this had been a long time coming.

“I'll have to ask Thor to bring Asgard a gift basket,” Tony murmured. “For their space octopus.”

Steve snorted, pressing the gentlest kiss to Tony's temple. “Make that two.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is DONE! Thank you so much to everyone who stuck with me through this story, I'm really humbled by all the positive feedback. Special thanks to everyone who wrote comments, it really means the world to me. I'd love to hear what you think about the conclusion of this too :)  
> I hope you enjoyed this story and that you have a great day! Thanks for reading!


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